I'm attempting to make a bow from this osage stave. I wanted to do it without steaming/bending the wood. As you can see there are these natural recurves right in the midlimb.
I cut the stave so that there was an equal 12" outside of each recurve. I theorized that there would be undo stress on these curves since they are nearly midlimb so I decided to have the handle work to help take the strain and to back with sinew as rings were thin anyway.
Its about 64" long and, after the sinew dries, I plan to reduce the width to about 1.5". I can shorten it if needed.
The pics aren't great so I'm showing the stave pics too so you can see the degree of rollercoaster. The kitchen counter shot is before further reduction and sinew.
Please, any thoughts?
(http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss327/SteveBush1/stave3.jpg)
(http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss327/SteveBush1/stave2.jpg)
(http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss327/SteveBush1/bow1.jpg)
(http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss327/SteveBush1/bow1-1.jpg)
(http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss327/SteveBush1/bow5.jpg)
(http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss327/SteveBush1/stave.jpg)
That's a very cool stave! Pretty symetrical for being natural too. If it were me I would do like most would with it being that short and make it bend in the handle a little bit and just keep the last 6" stiff on each limb tip. I can't wait to see it strung up! Good luck it looks like it will be a sweet bow when done.
That will be a challenging stave for sure. Ought to be sweet little bow when done. I wouldn't worry about too much strain in outer third. I would just leave the tips a little stiff like nimrod suggested and tiller that baby and make her bend good and let it settle where she settles.
Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. In two weeks I can start working it. I'll update this thread with tiller pics. Thanks.
Any chance you can glue a handle piece on and make your bow a rigid handle. I think with that profile you have, and with a working handle, it won't be as efficient as it could be. But if you do make it a working handle I think by shortening it's length and pyramid shaping the limbs will help a lot IMO. Good luck.......Art
Thanks Art. Well I never did ask the actual tiller question, which is, what do I do with the recurves? How much should they work, vs. the rest of the limb?
I rechecked and the bow is 62", 12" from tip to curve. If I do the typical 6"-stiff-tip, that leaves 6" of working limb from tip to curve, where I imagine it would stiffen, through the curve, as though a knot, but not so much that it doesn't work at all.
So if the handle was stiff, with non-working fades, that area from fade to curve would have to bend alot, to make up for the nearly non-working curve?
Also, the bow is just over 1.5" now so it might be too late for a pyramid.
But I am listening.......