osage growth rings

[jturner]

how tight is too tight? i have tons of osage staves and when i cut them i didnt know it mattered. id never used osage before some are so close you cant even count them. will this tight ringed wood work if i back it with sinew? and if so do i still have to chase a ring or does the sinew make that unnecisary?

[Dean Marlow]

Most people prefer wide growth ring osage staves over narrow ringed. Its the ratio between the late wood and early wood that seems to be  more important. Your thin ringed osage is good wood also. I usually put some kind of backing on my tight ringed osage just to be safe. In fact I think my tight ringed osage bows have more snap than my wide ringed bows. If you got thin ringed osage staves by all means don't make fire wood out of them. They will make bows also. Dean

[Aries]

wide growth rings are preferable because they have a better ratio of spring growth to winter wood, but i have made good bows out of tight ringed wood.  One major draw back to tight rings is the stability of the bow. With tight ringed wood you should attempt to make one of the thicker rings the back of your bow. When dealing with tight rings it is more important to carfully chase the ring and keep from making to many flaws on the back of the bow, because tighter rings are at higher risk of beaking.

[shamus]

how tight is too tight?

It depends on your skill.

Earlywood/latewood ratio is also very important.



If the the rings are too close to chase, then a backing of rawhide would work just fine.

[woodstick]

i made a bunch of bows with rings so small it took me forever to get 1 ring on the back but it made a nice bow i back most of my bows with rawhide anyway, but i made bows without it with thin rings. just make them it will work if you take your time to get 1 ring.

[wodpow]

Thin rings sometime almost seem like paper thin you try to scrape one off and you are already hitting  late growth .When its like that I use a six inch length of hacksaw blade with the back edge sharpened and do the sides for aways and then work to the center and use the bright sun light at a  angle so I don't get lost. I have got lost and only had to do half the bow stopping at the handle area .If you mess up you don't have to do the whole back again if the other half is good.

[George Tsoukalas]

Do leave the bow probably 1.5 in wide to counteract the thinner rings.. Do you need  help with ring chasing? Jawge

[wodpow]

thin rings are most times oily rings the oils are more concentrated it seems and need to be  degrease to get any glue to hold on some Osage. Sinew is not something you want to do on a bow more than once, so take  steps to get ti right the first time. 

[Pat B]

I like thin ringed osage. I learned to like it because beggars can't be choosers.    I generally back thin ringed osage with rawhide for insurance. It is very difficult to get a good, unviolated back ring and especially if it has knots or pins.    I'd say back it with rawhide, silk or linen and make a bow.

[jturner]

 Thanks everyone. I didnt know you had to degrease osage. I always do ipe but didnt know it was nessacary with osage. i live in michigan and our osage has such tight rings some are imposible to chase. If i could figure out how to post pics off my phone id show you. so is it ok to violate the grain if backing with rawhide or sinew? -

[Pappy]

I like thin ringed Osage,but not so thin you can't chase it. Like others have said the ratio between the early/late wood is the main thing I look for.