osage dust

[knap_123]

i was out working a stave with my rasp and noticed a good size pile of osage dust on the bench. this was off 1 limb so the otherlimb will produce more.  i was looking at the bow and and dust and started thinking.  "um, wht if you sized the back with tb111  and poured the dust on the back. wait till it gets tacky and press it down"  you couald sand it and smoth it out  then cover it with skins or whatever.  this might work with violated rings or weaker wood that needs backing.  i will save my dust and give it a try.  might even make a sifter  to get the finer dust.  what you think?

[Kent D.]

Not sure how well it would hold up as a backing, but what you discribed is a commonly used wood filler.

[ricktrojanowski]

Just a guess, but I don't think it will add any strength or protect the back in the way a regular backing would. 

[Pat B]

I'd say that the dust/glue combo will not add any strength or much protection, if any, to the back of your bow. I do keep osage saw dust handy to use as a filler for cracks and voids in staves.

[rossfactor]

I think that what makes wood strong in tension is the tensile strength of the wood fibers in the back of the bow. By sanding wood you are in fact violating the fibers in a very small way. Saw dust is a ground up mixture of lignin and wood fibers and so saw dust and glue would only have as much elastic strngth as the glue could provide.

[shamus]

Wood filler: yes.

Backing: no.

[sulphur]

backing, no.  might be cool looking though.  like pat said, i used super glue and saw dust to fill cracks.

[knap_123]

 i was imagineing the dust as a filer and a  snake skin on top as the sealer to hold all the filler down  with all the glue of course. i migt not be saying what i'm thinking right.   easier to just use the regularies though i think.