Newbie lucked out!

[Clacker]

So, I went out today to look on the family property for some trees that looked like likely candidates for staves, didn't find any, oh well.
 BUT once I got back  I was chatting with my neighbor, who's long retired and is quite the hobbyist. Turns out he has some split and aged wood in his attic he had no use for, and offered to let me take what I want. Lo and behold it's about 15 staves of Osage and some type of oak! All aged 10+ years! I dug out three staves that weren't too knotty, though all three have a propeller twist on them to varying degrees.
  So, what're your opinions on the staves and suggestions on my first bow? 

[JW_Halverson]

Grrr!  Go back to where you came from!  Leave the osage behind! 

I am just plain ate up with jealousy, Clacker.  You hit the gold mine. The propeller twist is not a big deal. A heat gun and a pipe wrench will take care of all but the worse of it. 

[Slackbunny]

Nice find!

[Clacker]

I'll try not to gloat too much, JW
Thanks, Slack

I assume I work on fixing the twist after roughing out a bow? Or is there a better time to do so?
I'm thinking I'll start on the oak first, and save the Osage for when I get a little better feel of what I'm doing.
My whole process will be done with a drawknife, kukri, and some rasps if it effects anything. Still not sure of a design to use, I see so many different styles on this forum!

[Jim Davis]

It won't sound like fun, but for your first bow, you would be best served to go to Lowes or Home  Depot and pick out a straight-grained red oak board.
 
You would regret it if you ruined a good well aged Osage stave during your learning process. I think you should stand those staves in a corner and think  about them while you work on the board bow.

Jim Davis

[JW_Halverson]

Unless you have prior experience chasing a growthring witha draw knife, I suggest you take the worst prop twisted stave with the most knots and pins to learn how to do it.  Take the bark off without bothering the first ring of sapwood.  Then chase to the next sapwood ring under that.  Repeat one single growth ring at a time until you got a single bright yellow growthring. 

From then on, YOU will be the boss ring chaser!

I do heat corrections once I have the stave chopped down close to final dimensions.  I might even leave an extra growthring or two in case I scorch a little and need to chase another.

[Clacker]

I've looked around for red oak boards, all that I've found have terrible grain.

JW, with your talk of scorching it, exactly how hot does the wood need to be to twist?

[JW_Halverson]

The way I do it is really similar to many other's techniques...with a little "twist". 

I clamp one the stave to the bench with a short section to be corrected hanging over the end of the bench.  I wrap the limb with a little section of cut off inner tube from a bike to pad it and attach a small pipe wrench so that the wrench is parallel to the ground.  I hang a 1 liter bottle of water on the end of the pipe wrench for extra weight.  then I start heating the section between the wrench and the bench.  Heat slowly, taking care to not scorch.  Watch the wrench....watch closely.  As the wood gets warmed up good, the wrench will suddenly torque from it's own weight.  Stop heating when that section has lost some of it's twist. 

Let that cool at least an hour and then repeat as necessary.  I heat about 6 inches at a time and take out a little twist at a time until the whole stave is done. 

The wood tells YOU when it is warm enough by the leverage of the wrench and weight.  If you take it really easy, you will never over treat the wood and never scorch.  Slow and steady.

[Clacker]

Will do,Jdubs. Probably tomorrow I'll debark the oak, I'm familiar with my drawknife, but never really chased a ring, aside from doing maybe a 4' section once on a chunk of firewood when I first heard of bowmaking

[JW_Halverson]

Funny, whatever you chose to practice on usually turns into firewood! 

[Clacker]

Kinda like how half the rock I get to knapp turns into flower bed gravel?

[Wiley]

Jw's suggestion  completely explains how to untwist them. You got really lucky there. The oaks would be my first projects, save the Osage for after you have tillered some "lesser" quality wood. Decade seasoned oak fits the bill for great oak for bow making. his suggestion of using the worst piece of Osage you have as your ring chasing teacher is a good one. Even if its twisted 360 degrees with 50 knots it can serve to teach you ring chasing, how to deal with knots, following grain for laying out the bow, and seeing how much twist can be removed from an Osage stave. Carry on the bow making process as far as you can with it, even if it doesn't make it to being a bow the lessons it will teach you will be worth it.

You may want to talk to him and see if you can get one of his gnarlier staves as the few you got look pretty clean, not with messing up with practice. You won't need to chase a ring on the oak, the back is right under the bark.

[Eric Krewson]

Here is my stave untwister. Always put the back of your stave down on the underside so you add reflex when you heat instead of deflex. I add lead or piles of C clamps to my bucket to get the heated limb moving.

[Clacker]

OK, debarked the oak stave, but WOW, this thing has super small rings! What's the standard procedure for getting down to one ring on something like this? (My garage is in serious need of cleaning, so excuse the mess! )

[lebhuntfish]

You won't need to chase a ring on the oak, the back is right under the bark.

I think this is what your looking for buddy!