My First Osage Bow

[Peter133]

Im working on my first bow from a stave. I made two board bows, the first one broke, the second ones pretty weak because after breaking the first I got paranoid and over tilled it. I was given an osage stave and I split it into 3. I got it to the point of tillering. Its 66" tip to tip, and about 64" to the bottom of the pin nocks. The handle doesnt bend and its about 6" long. The width is from about 2 1/4" at the widest by the handle and ends up at about 1 1/2" at the ends. The bow has a pretty significant natural recurve. My main question is whats a good thickness for the bow? I've been floor tillering it and its about 1/2" throughout, a bit thicker in some places, but not thinner than that.  Im afraid to put a string on it, even a tillering one, too early because Im being overly cautious and i wont have another chance to get a stave for a long time, definitely not another free one. I want to have about a 60 # but anywhere above 50 would make me happy. Dont have any pictures atm

[k-hat]

Hard to say without pics.  Osage can stand pretty much any dimensions, but i think it prefers narrower and deeper (like about  1.5" widest to about 1/2" at tips).  What style of bow are you making?  That will determine the rest of your actions.  You said stiff handle, but 1/2" is the thickest?  Is it stiff due to the width then?  If you already have the entire bow down to about 1/2" thick, you'll probly need to make it a bend-in-the-handle bow, and i think you can make weight.  George Tsoukalas has a website with a lot of info.

That's my 2cents, somebody with more experience will hopefully chime in

Good luck with it!

[Peter133]

Sorry, I ment to say its thickest in the limbs at 1/2", the handle is really thick and unshaped as of now, about 2". I was going to holemgaard style, but I made one of my board bows that way, so Its just going to be a simple slight tapper down the whole limb

[PEARL DRUMS]

Leave that thickness alone and beat on the width some. Take it to about 1 5/8 - 1 3/4" at the fades and staright taper to 5/8" tips for now. Then start working the belly from about 5/8 thick fades to 1/2" thick tip, keep your taper EVEN within itself and the back if it undualtes 3/8" or more, if not keep it pancake flat on the belly. Check back when you get there. Take your time and think about every move you make and what it may affect later, just dont dwell. Have fun!

[artcher1]

If your limbs are 1/2" thick from fades to tips then you need to pyramid shape your limbs. For a 1 1/2" to 1 5/8" limb width measure out 6" or so from the fades before starting your side tapers to about 1/2" tips. Let the pyramid design produce your tiller. Are you saying natural recurve tips on both ends or a natural reflex in the whole bow?

Just another option. Good luck........Art

[Peter133]

If your limbs are 1/2" thick from fades to tips then you need to pyramid shape your limbs. For a 1 1/2" to 1 5/8" limb width measure out 6" or so from the fades before starting your side tapers to about 1/2" tips. Let the pyramid design produce your tiller. Are you saying natural recurve tips on both ends or a natural reflex in the whole bow?

Just another option. Good luck........Art

Natural reflex in most of the bow, one limb is straightens out a bit

[artcher1]

With any reflex in the limbs, and using a rigid handle, inner/fade area is stressed greater. That's why I suggested paralleling your limbs 6" past fades before starting your side taper to help handle the additional strain. Depending on degree of reflex you may want to go even further than 6". Pics sure would really help.......Art

[Peter133]

Here are some pictures. I ended up doing a comination of your suggestions. I kept it pretty parallel for about 6" on each side at about 1 3/4". Goes down the rest of the bow pretty evently to 1/2" The handle is about 1 1/2" thick. For the most part the bow is 1/2" thick. Im working on getting that down. About 4" away from the handle I had a problem with the growth ring on the back and had to get it down to 3/8". Im a bit worried about that part, but when I put a tillering string on that part bent less than the other side which confused me. One question I had is if its okay if the growth ring Im using for the back switches in the handle? I'v heard its fine if the handle is riggid. I couldnt make both limbs on the same ring without making one limb too thin.
I dont much like the photo uploads here, here are the pics
http://imgur.com/a/8igiT

[Eric Krewson]

You can cross growth rings in the handle, no problem.

[Peter133]

I got the whole bow to the dimensions I want, its about 1 1/2" tapered to 1/2", Theres a stiff handle and the rest is no thicker than 1/2" anywhere. I got astring, which is too long, which gives me a brace height thats really low, like 4". My problem is that I pull the bow maybe 12" past brace and its already at like 50# (estimate).  I dont know what to do. How thick is too thick for osage to stop it from snapping?  I'm working on tillering it down, but looking at other bows on this site, i feel like mine should be close, like the copper head osage that was just posted, his is wider and about the same thickness as far as I can tell. Theres kind of a question in there, but Im not sure what, so any advice is appreciated. Hoping to have it shooting tomorrow because its the last day I have to work on it for about a month