Osage Bow Design Questions???

[Capt]

Couple of questions?

I have an Osage stave on its way and want to shoot if sensible for a recurve flatbow style but my stave is only 64" and i was wanting to shoot for a draw weight close to 60#....

Ive been told that this is easily obtainable with good Osage..... I may be looking at 62" NTN with my build..

I specifically want my bow as a hunting bow...

am i possibly aiming for the wrong style?

Should i forget about recurving tips and stick with a pyramid or Flat-bow Design? Would you typically get more power from a pyramid / flatbow than a recurve of the same NTN dimension or does this have no bearing.

Basically what im asking is with a short Stave what design will give me more power? Recurve, Flat, Pyramid or other?

Any help with answers much appreciated?

[JW_Halverson]

Your draw length will dictate the bow length.  For a pyramid bow you will need at least double your draw length plus 10%, a few extra inches would be better. 

Say you have a 27" draw.  Double that to get 54".  Add 10% and now you will need 59.4", call it 60.   I would say go the whole 64" of the stave to give yourself plenty of leeway.  You got it!

The grip area will be about 4 inches, two inches for each of the two areas where the grip fades into the limbs.  If you push your nocks out to half an inch from the tip, that will take away another inch, leaving you with 55" of working limbs.  Yup.  You can do it. 

And if you want to go to a simpler design, go for a bend-thru-the-handle type bow where the whole thing works.  A 27" draw only needs 54" of length.  Bendy handle bows are sometimes easier to learn on because the profile when bent scribes a perfect arc. 

[Capt]

Great advice... Thanks so much....

What about Flatbow vs pyramid? Thinking of the physics wouldn't a Flatbow hold more power Than a pyramid?

And if I was to recurve tips what would be the advantage? Or disadvantage?

I hate to sound ignorant but better to speak up and sound a fool than remain one!!! ( I think that was someone's signature on here )

 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Most power comes from proper care during tillering and a proper tiller. Consider your stave a brand new rubber band. If you over stretch the crap out of it it will lose it zip. If your nice to the rubber band it will retain its zip and be a good rubber band for a long time. Stretch it too far and it gets longer and doggier. Just like a stick of wood.

[Hrothgar]

My preference with a pyramid design is white wood, like hickory. A flat bow design with flipped tips will yield a very good bow--providing you're better bending the tips than I am

[okie64]

There is no advantage in flatbow vs pyramid, its more a matter of preference. Flatbows are tillered to bend more mid and outer limbs and pyramids bend more in the inner limbs. Recurving or reflexing the tips will give you higher string tension at brace height most of the time but it is a tricky balancing act. If you reflex the tips and the inner limbs take a bunch of set now you're right back where you started.

[bushboy]

Tim bakers mantra..."Make inner limbs wide or long enough for virtually no set.make midlimbs wide enough for little set.make outer limbs and tipsa narrow enough for lowest possible mass".this is something I have tattoed in my mind.different wood species have different strenghts and weaknesses that have to be learned and are all part of the curve.

[Capt]

Some great points and perspectives guys, Tim Bakers Mantra especially makes a lot of sense.

Thinking more about it durability and ergonomics must also come into my decision. The color scheme needs to fit into the environment too..

A horned or bow with recurved tips would snag up much more in the brush and with the heat down here may warp out of shape carrying it about braced with all that tension combined with the heat.

A pyramid with wide inner limbs and narrow tips sounds like a great design but again climbing over and between boulders and rock piles I may catch one of those thinned tips and damage / snap one off?

I think a good sturdy Flatbow would be best for my terrain and needs.. Applying as much of the 'Baker' mantra as possible without sacrificing strength or durability too much I.e. reducing mass in the tips to the point that they are fragile.

Thanks again for all the Tips and Advice.....

[JW_Halverson]

A pyramid with wide inner limbs and narrow tips sounds like a great design but again climbing over and between boulders and rock piles I may catch one of those thinned tips and damage / snap one off?

BWAHAHAHAHA!     You were talking osage right?  BWAAAHAHAHA!  Oh! Lemme catch my breath!

My everyday shooter made of osage got slammed in a pickup door years ago.  Granted, I had an advantage in that the back is sinewed, so no splinter could lift, but still....  It's osage and danged tough stuff.  Of course it is not indestructable.  For that, you would need to harvest Wolverine's rib bones and make a bow from those.  (No need to do a search, nobody here has done it....yet!)  But osage will take quite a beating before surrendering. 

A pyramid bow doesn't necessarily need fragile thin tips.  Save that action for when you have a few more bows under your belt.  At 3/8th inch wide there will be enough meat to stand up to normal field conditions.  Pyramid bows are just natural fast shooters with even a fair job of tillering.  With good tillering they just about strip the fletching off as they launch off the string.

[Capt]

Thanks JW

I'm getting a little ahead of myself.... Exited I guess.. I'm having to keep reminding myself to not get carried away with wild ideas and wait till I have the stave in hand... It's really going to come down to becoming one with the wood and letting the stave become the bow it was destined to be.. If the growth rings are flat enough I do really fancy a flat bow design though with nice sturdy tips...

If I get some pissed off pig wanting to come have a go I won't have a side arm or anything to pull on him, so a nice sturdy stick to to help fend him off could just save my skin... Literally. The cochies salvajes (wild boar) down here can get real feisty...

A good pair of sturdy cross country runners if all else fails... No trees to jump up just bush....

 

I've got some nice rattle snake skins ready to go too..

Can't wait to get going with this bow!!!

[Joec123able]

You're gonna need some tiny tips on Osage to snap them off 3/8 inch wide and thick enough to be stiff you can use the bow as a walking stick there not gonna break off

[JW_Halverson]

Excited?  No. 

Excited is when you pack a cooler full of sandwiches, beer, and other snacks, load up on sunscreen and move out to the curb to wait a week for a stave to show up.  On the up-side, people gave me loose change and Bible tracts to read when they thought I was homeless.

[4dog]

JW i also slammed my osage in my truck door..left a tiny dent in the bow..no sinew..the bow never even flinched..lol

[JW_Halverson]

Oh yeah, 4dog?  Awesome!

Hah!  Take that yew West Coast hippies!  Long live osage!*   








*In the interest of fairness, the above party is willing to accept yew staves in order to win him back to a neutral position on which wood is KING!

[4dog]

I will stand in the aforementioned fairness line with ya.