Narrow Osage questions...

[HickoryBill]

Over the weekend I was at a 3d shoot and met an old bowyer,well we got to taking and long story short he hooked me up with some awesome 20 year old seasoned osage..Now my questions...lol
The piece I am working on first is really narrow..The split tapers naturally from 7/8 in the handle area fading out to around 1/2 at the tips.( the sides being squared already)The ring ratio is great and I have a good ring chased.The length is 63 tip to tip.I wanna go for a 40-45# @27 draw.
Should I go with a bendy handle,semi bendy,or stiff handle? And can I go with a stiff handle?
The ring on the back is nice and thick and not violated..Should I back it for security? I have rawhide.
I wanna go with a mild r/d profile
Thanks for any and all help..

[Newindian]

I don't think raw hide will change anything
I would think you could have a short nonbinding handle, I would just do bendy any way. Sounds like you got some nice wood could come out a great bow.

[okie64]

If you have a good ring chased then theres no need for rawhide. I would do a bendy handle if it were me. You could probably get more weight out of it if you wanted to but the narrowest Ive ever gone with osage is one inch so I cant really say that for sure.

[blackhawk]

Your biggest challenge will be keeping it laterally stable pal....as long as you can keep the string tracking down dead center you should be OK...if your stave is arrow straight you shouldn't have too much issue achieving those stats,and keeping it stable....and I'd go at least a slight bendy with it buddy

[George Tsoukalas]

I got 49# out of a naturally reflexed osage sucker that was 1 inch wide and 64" long at 26". Backing is up to you. Jawge

[HickoryBill]

Once I get the belly thickness profile roughed out..the stave will be going with me to the Classic..so it should be stone straight laterally when it comes off the form...