New Osage Stave

[GaryL]

Hello,

I recently spent two days with John Strunk and I am totally hooked!  Two of the most memorable days I will have for a long time but that for another topic.

I built a Yew bow with him and time was not on my side but I got it done and it came out great!  He is a big supporter of leaving sapwood on all types of bows and when I was done I bought a Osage Stave off of him for when I got home.  I didn't have a lot of time to discuss it with him but he advised that I prepare it just like we did with the Yew Bow and leave all of the Sap Wood on it.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his opinions but I also wanted to get some other input.  The Stave is Spliced with some Reflex at the handle. 

My Questions are: 

If I was to leave on the Sapwood should I just remove the inner bark and leave the total Sapwood on or try to reduce the sapwood?
 
If I utilize the Sapwood should I back with Rawhide or can I leave it Unbacked?

Lastly, if I decided to go ahead and take it to one ring how should I work it around the handle?  Because they are two different billets and it wasnt taken to a ring before splicing I am guessing I would have to fade it near the non working part of the handle because the rings done line up, correct?

I trust Johns opinion but I was curious about splices, I have read that you should chase the Billets to one ring before splicing so I dont know if this is even an option for me since the sapwood and outter bark are still intact after the splice.

Thanks for any help, this is my second bow build and the first on my own so I sure I will totally wreck this one but I figured I would get some advise before I give it a go!

[Pat B]

A lot depends on how much sapwood is on the stave. I'd take it down to 1 or 2 sapwood rings or about 1/8" or so. You will have to chase those back rings so they are unviolated. You shouldn't need to add a rawhide backing but it won't hurt anything.
 John has been building bows for a long time so I'd feel comfortable going with his suggestions.
If you decide to remove the sapwood get each limb to a clean, unviolated ring and both limbs at the same plane across the handle and along the back.

[Hamish]

 
+1 for what Pat said. One or two rings for the backing usually looks pretty good. Too much sapwood left on, means you won't have much heartwood on the belly. Heartwood takes the compressive forces, better than sapwood.

The handle will usually be be stiff with a spliced bow, so you can blend the shape of the limbs smoothly into the grasp. This can mildly cut through rings but it won't matter too much as its not bending.

[GlisGlis]

The handle will usually be be stiff with a spliced bow, so you can blend the shape of the limbs smoothly into the grasp. This can mildly cut through rings but it won't matter too much as its not bending.

you may also leave more sapwood at handle where the splice will be

[George Tsoukalas]

I've never intentionally left sapwood on an osage bow unless I did not have enough heartwood.

I've left sapwood on BL saplings in my early days or because I didn't[t have the heartwood needed but that's another story from another chapter written long ago.

Gary, I guess you need to find your own path.

Jawge

[bradsmith2010]

I think since it is his stave do as he suggest on that one,
there are many ways to approach making a bow,, but if he put it together and looked at it personally I would go with that,
you have plenty of time to try different methods on other bows,,

[GaryL]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Brad, I agree, that was my thinking. I just wanted to get some input