Straight osage shoot: how to use it?

[penderbender]

Yes just set your blade depth to about an inch and cut a kerf down the center of each side and then split it along the kerf. Cheers- Brendan

[Pat B]

Be careful though. If the blade binds it can jump out of your hand. Take it slow and steady.

[Hawkdancer]

And take lots of photographs to post!  Good luck with the process.
Hawkdancer

[mikekeswick]

At only 3 1/4 diameter and limited experience I would advise not to try splitting or cutting in half. With plenty of experience and an eye for the task it may be possible to get two good bows from it but....two ruined staves aren't much use 'One in the hand is worth two in the bush'.
Pick the cleanest face that will be the back after removing the bark and sapwood (if there is enough heartwood/if not leave a couple of rings of sapwood). Flip it over and remove most of the meat on the belly side leaving the full stave 2 inches wide for its full length. Go slowly and get to a heavy floor tiller eg. the stave just bending a bit. Then cover the full stave with shellac. Don't worry it will not seal it completely just slow down the rate at which the water is released. No finish is completely waterproof.
Once you have it roughed out and sealed you can weigh the stave to monitor moisture loss. Write the weight/date on it every time you weigh it. Once it hasn't lost any weight for a week or so you can continue to remove wood from the belly and establish the limbs width taper. However keep the handle full width until it is actually strung. Once it is strung for the first time you can then shape the handle to the strings natural position and save yourself heat corrections/non centered string etc. 

[Pat B]

Mike makes a good point about not splitting it in half but make only one bow from the shoot.
 Look for other shoots anywhere from 1 1/2" to 2" in diameter and up. Cut them now and get the drying started.

[andreax1985]

Actually I was just wondering how I could split it in half if I had heartwood only 2'' in diameter...that means that I would have ended up with two staves having 1'' heartwood each, which I think is not enough for a bow am I right?

[andreax1985]

Mike: isn't it going to twist while drying if I follow your procedure?

[Pat B]

1" of osage can make a bow with reasonable weight.
You can clamp the stave to a 2x4 to prevent it from twisting while drying. Pad your clamps as to not dent the green wood.

[Stick Bender]

Maybe I error on the conservative side but I didn't have enough confidence that I could get a clean split so I did mine like Mike recommended natural materials don't always do what you think they will and I had enough heart wood to make a bow on mine , osage is not rare in my area but I'm risk ad versed about ruining staves , good luck with yours I can read the excitement in your posts !

[TimBo]

Actually I was just wondering how I could split it in half if I had heartwood only 2'' in diameter...that means that I would have ended up with two staves having 1'' heartwood each, which I think is not enough for a bow am I right?

That is correct for depth (back of bow to belly) but they are talking width, which would be the same after splitting.  Without a bandsaw, I would probably go for one bow; things definitely can go wrong when splitting something that size (don't ask how I know...).  Good luck!

[upstatenybowyer]

If I were you I'd do exactly as Mike suggested, making sure to leave enough heartwood to make an all heartwood bow if possible. If you clamp it down it should dry fine, no twisting or lateral bending.

Also, if you've never chased a heartwood ring before, I'd practice on a similar type of wood (mulberry or black locust) first. TBB 1 explains how to chase a ring pretty well IMO.

[andreax1985]

Today I've cut my osage branch. It turned out to be not so straight as I thought. The piece is 77'' long. I have sealed both ends with glue. Next week I'm gonna remove the bark and sapwood. Here are some pics, what do you think about it?

Lower end section:


Good side:


Bad side (lot of knots!):


Upper end section:

[Morgan]

Gonna have some crown to it, but those are some thick rings in that little branch. With all those small branch shoots, I'd study it hard before you start hacking on it, pretty sure you can get a bow out of it. Go slow and take your time.

[TimBo]

Those knots probably aren't terrible, but they would make me feel better about the plan to go for one bow from the good side.  Especially with that length, you should be able to get a nice stave from the good side.  I think if it were mine, I would leave one ring of sapwood...but either way should work. 

(They never do seem to be as straight after you cut them!!)