Now a crack!!! found my ring... question ...Trying some Osage... ring help

[sadiejane]

And I wont even mention how many hours it took me to chase my first ring. Because my first attempt at a bow was with an osage stave(and not the prettiest either),and my first time learning how to use a draw knife and scrapers.....not a good mix of firsts together at once... ....I feel your pain brother.    after that experience I hated chasing rings and osage....boy how things have changed...

now thats funny...had a similar experience with my first osage stave-even tho it was straight and clean. when my buds, who have been doing this for years, were talking about chasing a ring being their fav part of making an osage bow, i thought they were nuts. and yes, my how things have changed! (with just a very few bows!)

[Badger]

Using a cabinet scraper along with the draw knife will help a lot visualy, I usually do about 8 or 10 inches then polish it up with my scraper, seems to jump right out at you once you have cleaned it up.

[coaster500]

Art it's to late for that now but that would be alot less wood to remove. Maybe next time

sadiejane.. The longer I did it the easier it got but still tough for me. As far a being the favorite part well not yet

I think this was the hardest thing I've done with regards to bow building but towards the end it did start to get easier. About two thirds of the way into it I started removing wood from the outside edges as it made it less likely for me to kill another ring if it was defined and established on an edge that would ultimately be waste wood. The cheap drugstore glasses helped and the sunlight coming through the back door in the early morning really made it much easier for me? Towards the end you are right there is a sort of feel to this whole thing and that is great when your vision is not so good. I also discovered that my draw knife makes an excellent scraper and makes for very controled wood removal used this way instead of just the cutting edge. It’s not the best for the hill and dale spots but on the reasonably straight stuff it works great. I know for many of you my rants must sound like a babe in the woods but that’s pretty much correct.

Looks pretty good but again these eyes !!

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/coaster500/osage%20bow%20project/?albumview=slideshow

 
 
 

[coaster500]

One more question?

This stave is 10 months old. It was seal and dried for that amount of time. I have no way of knowing if it is dry enough to work into a bow but it seems dry? After chasing the ring and squaring the ends should I continue to work it? Rough out a bow or reseal it and allow more drying time?
 
Thanks again

[blackhawk]

Id reseal the ends and the whole back,and use shellac. And you can reduce it down to a stiff floor tiller if you want,but then I would wait a few more months before bending over the tree.

[gstoneberg]

I agree on the sealing and shellac is the way to go when you have the back ring done.  It removes easily when you get ready to finish.  I would take it to floor tiller and bring it in the house.  If your furnace is running it'll dry pretty quickly indoors.   A few weeks inside and you could finish it if you want.  It looks like you did a very nice job on that ring chasing.  Also, it has nice thick rings.  Should make a good bow.

Good luck,
George

[artcher1]

Pretty much any kind of tape will do to seal the back at this point. I like that blue painter's tape myself. Do like George suggested and store inside the house, preferrably flat. After a week or two you can get 'er bending if you like. If you plan on any heat treating maybe a little longer will be better.

Nice growth rings! I would use the thicker ringed end for the lower limb myself. That's the stump end.

[coaster500]

Ok, I drew a center line before I put shellac on it but as I was drawing it I noticed this. It's a crack in the stave. If I make a 64" bow the crack will be 100% in the handle and fade (4" handle and 2" fades). It's 30"s from one end of the bow but it's the knotty end. I was hoping to deal with just one knot now I have to deal with three? The other end of the stave has no knots at all. Oh well?

[coaster500]

Knot #1


Knot #2


knot #3

[toomanyknots]

"This ring chasing that I hear a bunch of folks saying is their favorite part"

Who says that? (hahaha)

[blackhawk]

Those checks wouldn't be a problem even if they were in the center of the limb,let alone being in the handle area....there fine. And if your wood checked that fast then id def wait longer than a few weeks as a couple other folks suggested bending it.

Yup just follow those grain lines...that knot at the end will be gone n wont matter if grain is slightly violated as it'll be stiff.

Knot 3 will be fine and in the bow...and knot 2 should prob b in the limb,depends how wide your stave is and where the knot is in the limb. Just follow the grain around that knot.

[gstoneberg]

Hmm, the question  of how dry your stave is has been answered, it isn't very dry.  Blackhawk's right.  I have gotten to the point where I seal the back the minute I finish it.  I've had 2 or 3 do that this year.  I had one stave wet enough that by the time I had gotten 2 or 3 feet of the back finished, the first part was already checking.  That was a green one,  but still...  Hadn't had that happen before to me.

George

[artcher1]

From the looks of his pics it looks like the sapwood was removed long before Coaster started chasing a ring. So I bet that crack was already there and the varnish highlighted it. Never the less, and as was mentioned, that crack isn't a problem. Just fill with some super glue when you're ready to start bending.........Art

[MWirwicki]

Coaster:  Nice job chasing that ring!  If I may, I'd like to suggest a redraw on a couple of your lines.  Keep in mind though, no two people would draw exactly the same line on any given stave.  Even you would draw a different line if you erased an original and redrew.  Especially on Knot 3, I would besect it and place it in the center of the limb.

Also, maybe you can cheat your line a bit to place that "crack" in the center of the limb.

[bcbull]

kip all good advise ya got on there  also rember to try that lil trick i told ya about haha hold it in the sun light and ull see what i mean also  i agree that one aint near dry was me id set it in a corner for a year let it dry  how s that yew comin  ? brock