57" Osage Bow options

[justsomedude]

Working  a stave today that had to lose an end due to worm holes and is 57" end to end.

1"w x 4"L x 1 1/2"D handle.
1 3/8" W at fades to mid limb and then to 1/2" at tips.
Currently 3/4" thick after the fades to 1/2" thick tips so I have material to work with.
Just starting to flex.

Straight bottom limb and snakey top

Should I just plan to make this a youth bow 20-25#@24" or attempt to tiller it to 28"?

And if I go the youth bow route, I am guessing I will be getting pretty thin to get the weight down. Will my current width be an issue?
And if I wanted to go for the 28" route....would I plan to thin the handle to allow it to bend?

[justsomedude]

There's a knot dead center and mid limb on the bottom limb (pictured on right).
tight rings with a high percentage of dark late growth

[bradsmith2010]

why does it have to be one or the other,, someting inbetween might be the sweet spot,,
maybe 26 or 27 bendy handle, monitor how its taking set and stop when needs you to stop,,
that will be your draw,, let the bow determine the best draw length,,

then if you are not happy make it a kids bow,

it will make a great bow,, 28 would be pushing it,, but not saying it wont do that, but 26 or 27 would increase your odds of success and less set,,

if it was my bow, I would start shooting it through a chrono at about 25 inches, and when I felt like it was performing well with little set I would stop,,

I preferr bendy handle but alot of guys dont,,

[justsomedude]

If i go bendy handle, do I just round out the handle even with the limbs?

[Stick Bender]

If you havent narrowed the handle I cant tell in your pic & your talking reduce handle thickness to 3/4 to match your fades then yes 3/4 thick for a bendy ,for the center 4 to 5 in. is plenty & 1 3/8 width is good you can always narrow the width to decrese you weight once you get the limbs bending proper (Side Tiller) .  I think you could make 28 in. With a lot of patients & care but your in a good spot if it doesent work out your kids get a new bow ,Good luck Im no exspert just passing along what was taught to me.

[justsomedude]

The handle is already narrowed to 1"W

[Stick Bender]

Is the one limb twisting at a 90 Deg. Angle ? Or is it just the pic ?

[justsomedude]

I started flattening it last night and made some progress. It's more of a 30-45 degree now. I will likely remove some more wood and then do another round of flattening before I try to take out the twist. My last twisted bow did straighten out some in the tillering process.

[bradsmith2010]

you can still make it bend in handle, but you should do that as you tiller the bow,,

[justsomedude]

I took the handle down a bit less than 1" thick... might go slightly thinner to get the handle working. It about 43@25" right now. I pulled a bit farther than that and it didn't feel like it was stacked up.

Going to take out some twist tonight

[justsomedude]

Going to remove twist before I try to smooth this out. Limb on the right has the most twist but the whole bow spirals.