Osage D-bow build-along

[ajbruggink]

Hey guys,

I'm building a new bow, an Osage D-bow and I decided to do a build-along to get some critiques, because I want to start building better bows. At this point I may have already made some mistakes. I wanted to build a D-bow and an Osage stave that I bought from Cloudfeather last year started speaking to me. I knew it was better to use the $4 red oak under my bed but I took out the Osage stave two days and within minutes of admiring the beautiful wood, I became a beaver and roughed out a stave with the drawknife even though a bandsaw was only ten feet away. The stave is 70 1/2" long, has about 1/8" growth rings, 5 pin knots, and some twist on one end of the stave. I made the stave 1" wide but at mid-limb began tapering to 1/2" nocks, leaving the limb with the twist wider so it would be easier to steam some of it straight later on. My goal is 55#@28", so I may have made the stave too narrow but I figure I'll find out if I did or not later. I'm now chasing a ring. I have previous experience chasing rings when I screwed up taking the bark off an ash stave. Although I'm not half bad roughing out a bow's profile with a drawknife, I'm not so good at chasing rings with one as I learned on the ash stave. I tried a series of rasps, a coarse one and a fine one, and it works, it just takes longer. This time I was smart enough to reduce the width of the bow first before chasing a ring, instead of chasing a ring 2" wide like on the ash. I've come to 2 of the pin knots and I wanted to know if I'm working these correctly or not. Your advice and critiques are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Aaron

[ajbruggink]

Sorry the previous pics are sideways, I can't figure out how to fix it. Here's another pic.

[osage outlaw]

So you are chasing a ring with rasps instead of a draw knife?  Do you have any scraps of osage you could practice on with the draw knife?  I took apart an old pair of scissors and rounded the tip of one side off.  I use both halves around pin knots and other flaws.  Somebody on here gave me that tip when I first started building bows.

[Knoll]

I too am relative newbie. Chased ring on less than 10 staves, mostly osage. So weigh advice accordingly.

Am not confident re chasing my final ring with drawknife. So use the drawknife to get down to the ring ABOVE my chosen final one. Then use drawknife & scrapers to chase that last ring ... likely more scraper than drawknife. Drawknife where feel safe and scrapers everwhere else. Takes awhile, but works for me.

I chase that ring at the knots too. And always use scraper in those areas.

Good luck!

[simson]

You should think about the right drawknife for ringchasing.
I have figured out a thick blade, razor sharp is the right instrument for me. I tried a lot of different ones - they are all laying around in my shop, not used.

[ajbruggink]

I too am relative newbie. Chased ring on less than 10 staves, mostly osage. So weigh advice accordingly.

Am not confident re chasing my final ring with drawknife. So use the drawknife to get down to the ring ABOVE my chosen final one. Then use drawknife & scrapers to chase that last ring ... likely more scraper than drawknife. Drawknife where feel safe and scrapers everwhere else. Takes awhile, but works for me.

I chase that ring at the knots too. And always use scraper in those areas.

Good luck!

So you're saying don't leave extra rings around knots like I've got going right now?

[PEARL DRUMS]

That's your decision. I circle the knots and go around them with a draw knife so they don't tear out, because they will EVERYTIME. I go back and clean each area up after the bulk is done.


And no, that red oak trim board under your bed is not a better choice. You made the right choice using this stave. Depending on how big a yank your in, get it floor tillered and haul it to Marshall. There will be several guys around eager to help get it bending exactly right.

[ajbruggink]

Yeah I figured that red oak wouldn't get me a 55# d-bow unless I made it very long and I find it very difficult to find very long, straight grained boards let alone any straight grained boards. 

[osage outlaw]

Bring your draw knife to Marshall and I'll bring some osage.  We will have you chasing rings in no time.

[bubby]

That door trim under the bed you would want shorter to get a higher weight bow not longer😉

[PEARL DRUMS]

Loosen the two nuts and drop that blade down so just a fuzz sticks out, if that doesnt work, move it out or in a fuzz until it works smoothly. That is basically a spoke shave.

[ajbruggink]

I spent about 45 minutes on this bow on Saturday. I tried the drawknife again and removed wood from one ring for about seven inches. I had some success when I changed the angle of the blade as I pulled the drawknife towards me. I did have some tear outs around two pin knots that revealed themselves underneath the first growth ring. I think my drawknife needs to be sharper so before I do anymore work to this stave I'm going to take some time to sharpen it. I also tried a tool that my mom found at an old barn that was being torn down. I'm not sure if its a spokeshave or a scraper with a handle, its blade resembles a spokeshave's, I sharpened it like a spokeshave blade. It removed wood readily as long as I kept the blade at a 90 degree angle, if I didn't it created washboards.

[ajbruggink]

I tried to fix the two pics of the stave to not make them sideways. Apparently for my age I am computer challenged but if the pics want to be sideways, so be it.

[riverrat]

to chase a ring ive always used my side knife and a mallet of wood of some sort to hammer on it. once i get it close i use my knife to "shave" it down. then once its done and ive looked it over several times, i sand it lightly. chaseing a ring with rasps or files....i just dont see how this would work. Tony

[E. Jensen]

I always leave an extra ring or two around knots and then I go back with the draw knife and lift up a splinter and it usually pops the ring right off, following the grain perfectly.  I've never had a problem with more coming off than that ring.  I then clean up a little with a small knife usually to the spongy layer of the last ring above the final ring, and then scrap that off with the scraper.