Osage layout questions

[islandpiper]

I sliced off a couple of sticks....they are 2" on the flatsawn face and 1 3/4" on the quartersawn face.......sort of a semi-diagonal ring structure visible at the ends. 

My question is should i make the board bow flatsawn as I do with Hickory with the rings showing on the sides of the bow, or quartered with the rings showing on back and belly? 

decisions, decisions.......

piper

[El Destructo]

Keith.........I do my unbacked Paddle Bows with the rings facing back and belly.....but really if you are going to back it....it dont rightly matter....but I would do it with the rings facing the sides......

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[Pat B]

Definitely quarter sawn. I think you get better bend resistance that way. Just right for a hickory or boo backing. 1 1/2" wide is plenty for hickory and 1 1/4" for boo backing.   Pat

[JackCrafty]

I've noticed better bend resistance with quatersawn as well.  Looks cool too.

[islandpiper]

Live and learn.   I split one of the sticks and sawed out my regular flatbow sort of shape.   I glued on an oak handle riser and started to floor tiller it.   Well, it was springy but stiff........

Another fellow stopped in who had built a couple of bows.   He was amazed at how stiff it was.   He left and I bent it JUST ONCE on the floor and BANG!  A two piece bow. 

Now, my question to you experts:   would a 1/10" hickory backing kept it from breaking?  The fibers of the grain seemed to run sort of longwise/diagonal across the bow. 

I might end up slicing all of it into veneers and making a lot of laminated bows.  If I make osage-osage-osage-osage bows here will they be acceptable to post?   I figure if I make four layers of osage and arrange the slices so that there is no continuity of fiber then it wil be stong and crack resistannt. 

piper

[Pat B]

Bending an unbacked quarter sawn board will break it because you have violated the lateral and radial grains. By backing with hickory you reduce that by a lot. I have never had a hickory backing fail and have made a few bows with hickory backings that had terribly violated grain. I usually cut backing strips to 3/16" and after dressing both surfaces come out with a strip about 1/8" thick. If necessary you can reduce some of the back to assist tillering too, if you find the belly getting too thin.
   I don't know if a multi lam bow is worth the extra work for the final results. You can make a very nice, fast, sweet shooting bow with just the osage with a hickory(the easiest) or boo(more work but best results)backing by adding Perry reflex or a R/D profile. Dean Torges' video, "Hunting the Bamboo Backed Bow" is a worthwhile investment if you plan on making backed bows. He shows how to make straight limb bows, R/D bows and recurve bows and the simple forms he uses to lay up the bows. You can probably get it from Horsefeather or 3Rivers. 
   Pat

[islandpiper]

Pat, THANKS!  Coming here makes me feel young again, i.e. I get to sit down and listen and learn, just like we all did in school years ago. 

And, we all learn by our mistakes.   I'll slice off some hickory and thickness it to a fat 1/8".   I have the other side of that sliced osage and will chalk the first one up to experience. 

The secondary question is this: will osage make good wood for my smoker?  The hickory scraps are real good. 

piper

[El Destructo]

                                                             Stick to the Hickory for the Smoker..............

All of my BoardPaddle Bows....if I make them from Boards....are unbacked Quartersawn/Biased Cut Wood....never had a break yet....depends on the design whether a Quartersawn Board will hold up or not

[islandpiper]

When I get in today I'll take a picture of the broken ends.   I'm glad it broke while floor tillering.   I wouldn't want one of those ends in the face.   

I may end up making some pretty , yellow jewelry boxes out of this stuff.  Good side job, like I need another one.   

piper

[Pat B]

I use osage scraps and shavings as kindling for my wood stove. I don't think I would use it for a smoker. Too many proven woods like hickory or fruit woods. Jewelry boxes. tip overlays, handle risers, etc are perfect for osage scraps.

[Justin Snyder]

The fibers of the grain seemed to run sort of longwise/diagonal across the bow. 

That is a fatal grain pattern.  You can get by with a edge grain or maybe even quarter sawn but never a diagonal grain on the board back. The growth rings are only half of the growth pattern you need for selfbows.  The longitudinal lines (grain running up and down the tree) are important to watch also.  I personally think the quarter sawn is too risky.  The preferred grain that El Destructo pointed out in his picture is edge grain, the one just above it with the grain angling is quarter sawn or ring bias.  I love to back osage like that with bamboo but hickory would be great.  This might be educational.   http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=3797.0  Justin

[islandpiper]

I faced up the remaining half of the osage today, and sliced off some hickory and ran that down to 1/8" and glued it up with TB.  That was about all the time i could steal today, so next week I'll lay it out and saw it and see what happens. 

piper