How much natural reflex…

[ssrhythm]

I like that!  Looks great and will probably be what I do when I get back to it. 

My first bow was a character bow with a giant hole in the upper limb and I learned a ton from that experience till I broke it after adding recurves after it shot beautifully as a longbow.  My knot hole work was a little too aggressive on that one, and my violation there could not handle the curves.  Regardless, I like a challenge about as much as I like finishing a good bow. 

That said,  even my best staves are only “relatively straight-forward.”  I think all Osage I’ve seen is a “character stave” to some degree.  Anyhoo, I decided to make some progress on a couple of my roughed out easier staves today, because I’ve got two friends I want to get bows to this summer in addition to the 2022 bow trade bow I need to get built.  I’ll get back to the knotty reflex beast after Oct 15th.

[Kidder]

BowEd, in your experience, is it better to add reflex only to the outer half of the limbs, keeping the inner halves flat, than to reflex the whole length of the bow in a "reverse-brace" shape?

FLNTKNP17 and I were discussing the location of reflex the other day in the context of Perry reflexed bamboo backed bows and I believe we both came to the conclusion that we get better performance when the reflex is greatest in the inner limbs. I believe this to be because we leave the tips stiff and the highest working portion of the limb is benefiting from the Perry reflex. My experience (a dozen or so BBOs) is far less than Matt’s but we both had the same conclusion. Maybe it’s different with a self bow but I can’t imagine at this late hour bow that would be so.

[BowEd]

BowEd, in your experience, is it better to add reflex only to the outer half of the limbs, keeping the inner halves flat, than to reflex the whole length of the bow in a "reverse-brace" shape?

FLNTKNP17 and I were discussing the location of reflex the other day in the context of Perry reflexed bamboo backed bows and I believe we both came to the conclusion that we get better performance when the reflex is greatest in the inner limbs. I believe this to be because we leave the tips stiff and the highest working portion of the limb is benefiting from the Perry reflex. My experience (a dozen or so BBOs) is far less than Matt’s but we both had the same conclusion. Maybe it’s different with a self bow but I can’t imagine at this late hour bow that would be so.

The inner limbs do work this is true.Less reflex there makes for less stress and less set if you leave the inner limbs wide enough on self bows.I've made many D/R BBO's myself.All a lot narrower bows than self bows.
There's a number of ways to have reflex on a finished bow without sinew.Heat/natural/or a glue line from the backing.Of them a glue line from a backing would be my stoutest choice.Probably heat next especially on natural and heat treatment.
Keeping reflex on bows means putting the odds in your favor and knowing the design.
Pound for pound mass weight wise sinew takes the less set if it is put on properly and made to work more to do it's job.That means more reflex.

I like that!  Looks great and will probably be what I do when I get back to it. 

My first bow was a character bow with a giant hole in the upper limb and I learned a ton from that experience till I broke it after adding recurves after it shot beautifully as a longbow.  My knot hole work was a little too aggressive on that one, and my violation there could not handle the curves.  Regardless, I like a challenge about as much as I like finishing a good bow. 

That said,  even my best staves are only “relatively straight-forward.”  I think all Osage I’ve seen is a “character stave” to some degree.  Anyhoo, I decided to make some progress on a couple of my roughed out easier staves today, because I’ve got two friends I want to get bows to this summer in addition to the 2022 bow trade bow I need to get built.  I’ll get back to the knotty reflex beast after Oct 15th.

You'll have to make the judgement on that stave with the knots.If they are sound/not on the edge it's good.The more character can mean the less extreme the design too.