Hey guys, new member to the forum and new to handcrafting my own bows, but I wanted to share a few of my pics and ask a question about one of the staves I have started working on.
The first 2 pics are of 2 trees that I found and harvested. The first one was a shorter tree and I got 3 nice staves along with several thin ones I think I'll use for other stuff, or possibly some small child's bows. Both of these trees are MO osage, cut one in jan/feb and the other in april just a couple weeks ago.
Are there any woods you don't want to use for arrows? from both of these trees I got quite a bit of scrap material that would make some nice arrows or foreshafts.
Would osage be a good fit for these? I know that's not the traditional wood used but it's what I have and I don't want to waste it.
and if you look at the 3rd pic, this is a stave I worked down to one ring and then rubbed with oil/grease and coated with polyurethane.
if you look closely in the area circled, you will see a few slivers of the early growth underneath begginning to show through where I was scraping the late growth above. The are ever so small, just slivers.
Is this top ring violated and should I go down one more ring?
