Is the grain direction important in the osage on a boo backed osage bow? Does it still need to be pretty straight? How about pin knots?
The straighter the better in my opinion. This aids in overall straightness and string alignment. But you will be able to work with more imperfections in your wood because of a backing more so than with a selfbow. You will sometimes have pin knots front and back on selfbows so having them on just the belly of a backed bow isn't a problem. The one thing you don't want is wood with sever grain run-ups. This makes for an iffy proposition. ART
If the pin knots are near the belly they eill crush. This is the drawback of uisng quarter sawn belly slats.