Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: feral on December 24, 2014, 12:06:06 am
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http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/hunting-bow.html
Hey all,
I found this a while ago.
It says to leave the sapwood on when making the bow out of Osage.
Can anyone offer advice?
Cheers.
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You can leave the sapwood on the bow or take it off. Most people remove the sapwood. If you leave it on, make sure you chase a ring on it. And seal the back up any time you remove any wood from it.
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Cool thanks
The Osage I have is cracking along the sapwood so I might take it off.
:D
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anyone know what the "boam" wood the auther mentions is? i have never heard of it before.
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What "boam" is seems to be a mystery.
At any rate, the author says to remove the sapwood and that's my advice, too, unless you are working a save that does not have enough heartwood.
Thanks for this article, ferral. I liked it.
Jawge
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I'm sure osage sapwood is tougher than most white woods heartwood, however I would remove it. Why eat hotdogs when you can have steak? Properly chasing a single back ring will produce a pristine back that will last a lifetime. No offense to you hotdogs lovers, I'm just sayin...lol Danny
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If you are sure the sapwood is sound(handled properly from the stump) you can leave a sapwood ring or two on an osage bow. I've done it on a few occasions with good results.
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I'm sure osage sapwood is tougher than most white woods heartwood, however I would remove it. Why eat hotdogs when you can have steak? Properly chasing a single back ring will produce a pristine back that will last a lifetime. No offense to you hotdogs lovers, I'm just sayin...lol Danny
I wonder if it really is better than white woods. I have only small experience with osage, and always chase a ring, but I once found a 4" plus black locust sapling, ramrod straight and clean as a whistle, with NO heartwood. I made a bow that would have worked beautifully for elm, floor tillered it, heat treated the belly, and got it on the tree. It was so stiff for the dimensions. But when I got it bending at all (with a scale at 50 lbs) the wood just sat down, crumpled and folded up. No elasticity whatsoever. Stiffness, but no return.
The bow I was making would have been fine in maple, elm, white mulberry, honey locust, etc...and wide than needed in black locust heartwood.
Either way, danny, I'd chase a ring on osage.
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heart wood is the most consistent ,, if you dont have enough wood, then use the sap wood, but if you do take it off,, work a ring either way
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I'm sure osage sapwood is tougher than most white woods heartwood, however I would remove it. Why eat hotdogs when you can have steak? Properly chasing a single back ring will produce a pristine back that will last a lifetime. No offense to you hotdogs lovers, I'm just sayin...lol Danny
Coming from a guy that makes his own hotdogs ;) I will say they were tasty though Danny.
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I'm sure osage sapwood is tougher than most white woods heartwood, however I would remove it. Why eat hotdogs when you can have steak? Properly chasing a single back ring will produce a pristine back that will last a lifetime. No offense to you hotdogs lovers, I'm just sayin...lol Danny
Coming from a guy that makes his own hotdogs ;) I will say they were tasty though Danny.
You guys are killing me...... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
DBar
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anyone know what the "boam" wood the author mentions is? i have never heard of it before.
Dylan, I hunted for the definition of "boam" here and on the Leatherwall for several years off and on with no success. I did get a lot of ribbing for my efforts. If you search the word on either forum you will find my trail. It was a cold trail when I walked it. ::) I even did lots of google searches and found people with the surname Boam and other useless stuff, but no bow wood. Some folks suggested that the author, Sam Brown was pulling our many legs or talking trough his hat (no hat in the photo of him ;) )
Good luck if you go on a boam hunt.
Jim Davis
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I heard Boam was an acronym for bozo on a mission. >:D
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anyone know what the "boam" wood the author mentions is? i have never heard of it before.
Dylan, I hunted for the definition of "boam" here and on the Leatherwall for several years off and on with no success. I did get a lot of ribbing for my efforts. If you search the word on either forum you will find my trail. It was a cold trail when I walked it. ::) I even did lots of google searches and found people with the surname Boam and other useless stuff, but no bow wood. Some folks suggested that the author, Sam Brown was pulling our many legs or talking trough his hat (no hat in the photo of him ;) )
Good luck if you go on a boam hunt.
Jim Davis
thanks jim i did google it shortly after asking and like you said lots of people with the last name and other such like that is no help to me ::) i did run into a few posts on several forums asking about it but it looks like it will remain a mystery for now.
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Right so if I want to make a good bow, make hotdogs, eat steak and chase my ring. :o ;D :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
I did find out that the pipe from an old trampoline frame was the perfect size to make the handles. Galvanised steel and easier to squash than the pipe they show. I'm think of building the submarine next ??? ???
Merry Christmas all you poor cold northerners. 30 degrees here, going swimming and icy cold beer and fresh prawns for Chrissy dinner. White Christmas? You can have it. I saw snow once, I see no reason to ever see it again. :laugh:
I'm a tropical boy.
Merry Christmas again :) :) :)
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Jon those were'nt hotdogs them was genuine bonafide Southern Kansas Venison Andouille sausages. Only the good stuff around here.....lol.
Feral... you almost got it.Make sausages, eat steak and chase a ring... I'm salivating on the thoughts of the prawns though. One of the nice things about living in a climate that gets cold in the winter is you don't need to ice down the beer. It stays cold. In fact if it gets too cold you have to insulate it from the cold to keep it from freezing.
Springbuck As we all know, Black Locust is much more receptive to crysalling that osage. I know there are several that has posted sapwood/heartwood osage bows that were really nice. Maybe one the benefits would be the contrast between the white and yellow. Must have just been the stave though because as many can attest BL is a super good bow wood but must be properly tillered. Its not as near as forgiving of mistakes as osage. I have made a bunch of mistakes with osage and it has allowed me to impersinate someone that makes good bows O:)
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Not very scientific I know but I made a sapwood bow months ago and heat treated the belly. The bow hold about 1/2 inch reflex. I like this bow very much and decided to copy it exactly, only this time, with a heartwood back. I haven't heat treated yet but the all heartwood bow has lost all its reflex and taken about an inch of set. I will heat treat 2 inches of reflex in and see if it keeps it.
Theory in development here is that perhaps sapwood is a more stretchy back than heartwood. This allows for less set in the bow by not overpowering the belly so much.
Id really like to make another sapwood backed bow, and then make a heartwood backed bow of the same tree to narrow out different wood properties as a variable.
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Oh, yeah, Sidewinder, I know BL very well. It's one of the best woods I have available. I was saying it was exactly that, the stave. Sapwood has held beautifully for me (on BL) as a single ring on the back. But, when put in compression, it acted like BL for the stiffness, but seemed to have no compression strength OR elasticity.
Sleek, that would be areally big discovery, if it works out you are right. Cool.
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It may be a big discovery but im keeping in mind that there must have been a reason for the Native Americans to go the extra work of chasing a heart ring. Idk what that is though.
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Sleek. Was the all heartwood from the same stave as the one you did the sap/heartwood with. If so you may be onto something, however if not could be a moisture content difference. The heat treat will matter too.
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No sidewinder, different tree different ring count. Big differences that prevent me from saying Ah ha and more like hmmm...... more bows must be built for comparison. I need to get some sap on staves that I can split in half, and make twins. One with sap and the other without. Then do speed test and fd curves on them. Cant bring myself to test to destruction though.