Leaving sapwood on osage?

[ajbruggink]

Hey guys,

I recently bought a copy of Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows, & Quivers volume II and I noticed that there are several osage bows in it that their bowyers had left the sapwood on them, including one on pg 176 a Kiowa bow was made with the bark left intact, worked on the belly and sides (it is my favorite bow in the book), and on pg 182 there is another Kiowa bow that is half sapwood and half heartwood. I had thought that you had to remove all the sapwood on osage selfbows, is this not true? If it isn't true, why do many modern bowyers go through the trouble of removing it? This is just curiosity on my part, I haven't worked with osage yet so I only have what I've read so far to go on. Any replies are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Joec123able]

No you don't have remove the sapwood from Osage the only reason I take it off is because I think all heartwood bows look better

[IndianGuy]

Aj....I have found that if you don't seal the bow,and I don't seal any of mine you need to keep it oiled well or the sap wood seems to dry out to the point it gets cracks. That's my experience. The sap wood seems to make the bow "springy" for lack of a better word. Try one and come up with your own conclusions and let us know.
E

[mwosborn]

I am currently drying 2 sapling staves with the sapwood left in place - not enough wood to make a bow otherwise.  My first attempt using osage sapwood.

[ajbruggink]

Thanks for the quick replies, this is kind of a different subject but sort of related, do most people still remove the sapwood if they plan to sinew back osage bows?

[Pat B]

You can keep sapwood on an osage bow but be sure it is sound and disease free. The back of the bow is under lots of tension stresses so less than perfectly sound sapwood can be detrimental.

[George Tsoukalas]

If you have enough heartwood, take off the sapwood. If you are using a sapling you probably won't have enough heartwood so you'll have to leave some sapwood. Jawge

[bradsmith2010]

I think the sap wood is just not a predictable as the heartwood,, that is why bowers take it off,, if you dont have enough wood then you dont have anything to loose by trying,, the sapwood on smaller saplings seems to be more stable.... also in my experience the sapwood checks a little easier ,, so taking it off eliminates some of the that risk,,, an good osage bow is hard to make ,, so many eliminate it to increase the odds of success,,, I have a very good bow with sap wood,,, and have seen others that were great,, if you try to make one with the bark on,, you will see very quickly why that is not a common practice,, leaving the sap wood on,,,, is not a problem if you area going to sinew back,,,,