Did I follow the grain???

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Hey guys-
    Justin here, Just finished up my first layout of my osage self bow...68 1/2 inches tip to tip, 1 1/2 inch wide limbs. Question for you seasoned vets of osage.... Did I follow the grain when laying out this part of the limb? It has to go off the edge of the bow to continue out around the grain. Hopefully I did this correctly and if not can you put your two cents in. Thanks

[aznboi3644]

was the stave split or bandsawed?

If it was split with wedges than the grain is already followed

[George Tsoukalas]

Pretty good but not quite around the curve but I can't tell for sure. Looks like that line on the right is close but off as it coms towards s by just a bit. Are the lines that close to the left edge? Jawge

[RidgeRunner]

It looks like you are at least very close.
Get yourself a wet sponge and wet the crooked area well.  As it dries the grain will raise in tiny little ridges.  Just follow the ridges.

David

[ricktrojanowski]

It looks like you are at least very close.
Get yourself a wet sponge and wet the crooked area well.  As it dries the grain will raise in tiny little ridges.  Just follow the ridges.

David

That is a great tip. I've never heard of that.

[sailordad]

david,thats a great tip
i know water will do that to wood,but would never of had thought of doing it to follow the grain

[DarkSoul]

That looks much better already!

It's hard to say for sure though; we can only see the back side of the stave. There might be a big knot at a weird angle in the belly of the stave, for all we know. What I often do with knots, is to use a drawknife to rough out the stave. A drawknife will automatically follow the grain, and basically dictate how the wood grain flows. An axe would do the same, but with less control.

[George Tsoukalas]

I'd say that looks pretty darn good. When you take the draw knife to get the width she'll follow the grain. Jawge

[DEllis]

I'd say that looks pretty darn good. When you take the draw knife to get the width she'll follow the grain. Jawge

That's my favorite method too, you just have to go very slow and carefull so it doesn't gouge out too much wood.
Darcy