Osage Orange Advice

[BrokenArrow]

I have a 60 inch osage orange stave which I have reduced to a roughed out bow, it weighs 23 oz.
Question, should I tiller before or after I recurve the tips??

[missilemaster]

I would floor tiller first.

[occupant]

If you use dry heat to recurve, you will probably have to do some more tillering.

[bubby]

I like to get it to around 20"before i steam in the hooks

[Pat B]

Like bubby, I like to tiller it out a bit before bending the hooks. This gives you thinner wood to bend plus you are sure everything is going well.  Be sure both limbs are bending evenly and together, get the recurves straight and its all down hill from there.

[Pappy]

Same as bubby at about 20 inches ,but usually use  dry heat to bend depending on the wood.   Osage most always dry heat.
   Pappy

[Badger]

 Agree with the above, 90% of the time I use dry heat but once in a while I get a piece that I need to steam.

[xpertbushman]

When bending the tips, why would one use steam over dry heat?  Does it depend on the wood?

[bubby]

When bending the tips, why would one use steam over dry heat?  Does it depend on the wood?
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It depends on the wood and how radical of a bend, you can get a pretty good bend on osage with dry heat but not most white woods, and bending in recurves imo steam is the way to go