Most of the Osage staves I acquire have thin rings, knots and character which I usually back with rawhide or sinew. I had a really clean piece of Osage that I decided to use for a static-tip recurve selfbow. The bow is 65” in length and pulls 56# @ 28”. The tip overlays are bone and I used smoke-tanned deer hide for the handle wrap. The arrow rest and side plate are covered with calf hair.
I used dry heat from my heat gun to initially straighten the stave. I then tillered the bow out to 20” prior to bending the static recurves using steam. I use a wallpaper steamer connected to a 4” diameter pvc pipe to steam my limbs. I like the tips to be 3/4” wide and 1/2” thick, and I steam them for 40 minutes.
This bow should make a great hunting bow in my blind as well as the treestand. Thanks for looking.
Will