Hickory backed osage question?

[hedgeapple]

I"m wanting to build a hickory backed osage this summer so I have a couple questions:
Is it better to work with the osage stave like you're chasing a ring then just sand it flat to glue on the backing?

Or, should I cut the stave with the grain in a quarter sawn or bias/rift cut orientation?

I'm assuming that the osage should be straight, non-character stave so that the hickory backing would not have run off.
Thanks for your help.
Dave

[Pat B]

I personally wouldn't ruin a perfectly good osage stave to make a hickory backed bow. Find a bias grain osage board and make a great hickory backed hunting bow. Staves are made for selfbows. If an osage stave has a problem and can't be a selfbow(I haven't seen many) then I would decrown it and back it with hickory.

[hedgeapple]

Pat B, thanks.

[Pat B]

Hickory backed osage makes an excellent bow. I have made quite a few and have been pleased with all of them. I pretiller the belly so it bends smoothly and evenly for 4" to 6" before Perry reflexing it to about 3". This usually ends up with a flap profile or slightly reflexed when shot in. I have used both TBIII and Urac with good results.

[hedgeapple]

What is a perry reflex?  I've searched it and found it mentioned 100's of times but I haven't found a description of one.  I've even googled it with no better results.

[Hickoryswitch]

Perry reflex is reflex added by drawing the limbs and backing into reflex while gluing. It causes the limbs to store more energy inside the limb rather than just at the surfaces.



Wayne

[Pat B]

To achieve Perry reflex I set the bow's tips on 2x4 blocks, back up, and pull the handle down to the table. This is done at glue up time and will give you just over 3" of reflex in the form but only about 2" once removed. Pre-tillering the belly so it bends smoothly and evenly will insure the reflex glued into the bow will also have a smooth, even bend.

[Marc St Louis]

Actually gluing reflex into a bow has nothing to do with a Perry reflex.  Bows were glued into reflex long before Dan Perry made it popular.  A Perry reflex is just his particular style

[hedgeapple]

Hickoryswitch, good to see you here.

More reflex questions:
Would it not accomplish the same thing by heat bending a reflex then glue the backing strip on it?

What about heat bending the backing strip?

How to you clamp down the limb and still be able to get the backing strip on the handle area?  If I place the backing strip on the back of the bow at time of glue up then clamped both down together would that not cause some glue up issue since there would be more clamping preasure at that spot?

Marc, thanks for your imput.  Could you explain Dan Perry's style a bit more or show a picture?

[adb]

All the hickory backed osage bows I've built have been from quarter sawn boards. I wouldn't ruin a good osage stave by backing it with hickory, either. I have backed many osage staves with rawhide or sinew, but that's another story.

[Hickoryswitch]

If you bend the reflex in with heat then put backing strip on you don't get the inner limb storage. By bending the bow into reflex while gluin you cause the back to feel compression loads and the belly tension. By doing that it stores more energy when drawn because of the energy needed to reverse the loads to their normal configuration. The glue line is the weakest link as it is under a lot of stress.

Wayne

[hedgeapple]

Wayne, thanks again.  As I was typing I was thinking that might be the reason.

I have a very thin ringed piece of osage that I'm thinking of backing with hickory.  Should I attempt to chase a ring with it then decrown the back which will of course violate the rings?  Or should I cut a quarter sawed board from it then back it with hickory?

[hedgeapple]

Well, I chased the ring on an osage stave with the intent of de-crowning it for a hickory backing, BUT I kind of fell in love with the stave.  So it's going to be a self bow later this summer when it drys.  I just couldn't bring myself to intentually violate the ring on this one.