Osage takedown bow

[Muskyman]

I’ve been working on a takedown bow and after chasing my ring and putting the sleeves on I started thinking about the style of bow and I’ve never really made anything but a flat bow. So I figured flat bow is what I’d make. Looking at my billet on the back side it’s only about 1 and 1/4 inches wide.
Is that wide enough for a flat bow? Should I rethink what kind of bow I make? Already made some mistakes in my haste to get a bow made and don’t want to compound them. The back marked in red is 1n1/4 wide

[Muskyman]

Another picture

[Muskyman]

One more

[superdav95]

Looks like fun mike.  It looks to me that the red marks are on the belly side for width.  If I’m correct you could still be a smidge wider if you want still on the back yet.  That said you could still make a great bow at 1.25”.    What sort of draw length and weight you hoping for?  It looks like you got plenty to work with for hunting weight bow as far I can see.  Just make it a slightly thicker narrower style bow limb and taper out to the tips for weight reduction and will be plenty heft for hunting.  With it that narrow I’d start with thickness of around .600”-.700” then reduce thickness out to mid limb and hold around .500” or so.  Depending on your length of limbs this will vary but if wanting a 50lbs draw hunting bow or close to it it’s would be a good start.  You would scrape from there.  At a length of 66-68” long bow this should give you plenty of draw weight.  Just rough numbers here but don’t be too concerned with its narrow limbs as a deal breaker.  Keep us posted. 

[Muskyman]

Yes it’s the belly of it Dave. And it 1.5 inches on the back. I miss spoke. Not sure what kind of weight I’m looking for. It the small sleeve from 3 rivers. Not sure how I’m going to address the handle. It’s small in my hand. My hand aren’t huge but pretty good size and I like a bigger handle then what I’ll end up with if I just put a leather wrap or possibly beaver tail on it. Not sure about the length of the bow yet. If I recall correctly one limb is 32 and one 34 measuring to the sleeve and it’s 4 inches. So 70 inches total tip to tip if I don’t cut the longer limb down to 32. I just got started so I’m still able to do about anything I need to.

[Muskyman]

Did some more work on the bow today. Got it shaped and down to about 5/8 thickness in the limbs

[Pat B]

Looking good so far.
 How does the floor tiller look?  If good, at 5/8" thick it might be time for temporary nocks and long string to see how it bends.

[superdav95]

The handle is pretty easy to get sorted.  I’ve done cork to build up a bit the wrap with leather which works.  If you want to use epoxy fg wrap on outer sleeve then shape and contour to your liking then a leather wrap to cover would look real nice too.  Looks good your in good shape for dimensions I think. 

[Muskyman]

Not bending yet Pat. If any just slightly.
Not sure what fg wrap is Dave but I’ll google it.
I post more as I get further along.

Googled it, fiberglass

Thanks Mike

[superdav95]

Not bending yet Pat. If any just slightly.
Not sure what fg wrap is Dave but I’ll google it.
I post more as I get further along.

Googled it, fiberglass

Thanks Mike

Ya should have clarified.  Fibreglass for fg.  I was saying you could rough up your outer sleeve and tape off rest of upper and lower fade of bow limbs and build up your grip area a bit and then shape and contour with a file or task the way you want before leather wrapping

[Muskyman]

I’m assuming this is a ring violation. I’ve been trying to figure flickr out to post better pictures but no luck so far.
If it is a violation what can I do. Rawhide? Or get another billet and see if I can remove the sleeve?
Kinda bummed about it.

[Pat B]

Hard to tell from the pic but if it is a violation you should probably go down to that ring for the back. If your limbs are still 5/8" you should have enough thickness to complete your bow as planned. You can stop the ring removal at the take down sleeve so the sleeve still fits. That area is stiff anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Muskyman]

Rings are pretty thick Pat. I might try taking it down to the next ring but I might try and heat the sleeve and see if I can get it off.

[Hamish]

Those rings are fat. Its probably only a luna ring, so you haven't violated a full growth ring. Luna rings can be confusing sometimes. They appear as rings within an actual growth ring. I would leave it alone, and continue as normal.

[Pappy]

You should be able to look at the edge to see if you are actually through a different ring, hard to tell from the picture. 
 Pappy