Help a newb with an osage bow?

[hedgeapple]

I have a cheapy blue FG bow I bought for my son and his friends use bow fishing on one of our camping trips, once.  It hangs in my workshop.  I pull it down if I'm making a bow for a friend. I grab an arrow and clip a clothes pin on it.  Then I have the friend draw the bow and measure from nock to clothes to get their draw length.

[Bow]

Hey guys, how do you think it's going? I'm a little bit worried about the fades, since they don't seem to be gradual enough and I may have cut too deep...I've just been carving out the sides so far...

[JW_Halverson]

The profile from the back looks pretty good to me.  The handle section is certainly not too narrow (as I often used to make 'em), and the fadeouts are long enough to give you a gentle transition from bending to nonbending limb. 

Atta boy!

[Bow]

Do you think it will turn out better with a 2" fade (like it has now) or a 3" fade?

[Eric Krewson]

Beware of old ebay arrows. I went through a phase of picking up old arrows to refurbish. I found so many problems with them that I realized I was wasting my time.

Once you get your bow done you will want your arrows to match your bow. With old ebay arrows you never know what you are getting as far as spine or weight goes.  Arrow making goes along with bow making and bow string making and should be the next thing you look into.

[Bow]

Hmm, I think I'm going to switch to 3" fades...

[JW_Halverson]

I think 3" fades is just wasting wood.  My fades are generally 1 1/2", sometimes up to two for a longer bow that I want to look more slender. 

[Bow]

Hmm, how's it looking so far? The sides still seem very rough to me, and the shape doesn't seem quite right yet. Nothing irreparable, I hope? (You can zoom in on the pic in the link to see it more closely).

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8676/photo3yso.jpg

Any advice?

[seabass]

listen to Jw.go with 1 1\2fades.3"is too long.go slow with this.that is a nice looking stave,you don't want to get hasty and ruin it.

[Bow]

listen to Jw.go with 1 1\2fades.3"is too long.go slow with this.that is a nice looking stave,you don't want to get hasty and ruin it.

Does it look like I messed it up in that last pic? =p

[JW_Halverson]

Not really, at this point everything is a learning experience.  In bowmaking there are NO MISTAKES...just some design executions that are less efficient. 

For instance, if a bow breaks just outside the fadeouts on the bottom limb, that means it was designed to be shot by a VERY short person...though with only one limb it is really inefficient!  *grin*

Keep at it, and post all your questions, no matter how minor they are.  We are all happy to help you out.