I just finished an osage stick bow. Snakey and small twists. The man who split it was going to throw it away because of a defect in handle area.
I flattened it and glued on a handle. Strings good shoots good. BUT I got this strange click when I dram it. No cracks, or splinters. Edges rounded. I am almost deaf in left ear so .....
Could it be the string in the knocks . Unstrung it and on click when flexing.

My last bow when I would draw her the bottom of the loop would actually pop out if my groves and cause a click... Dose it click at full draw, have somebody watch when you draw

It clicks when I start the draw. About 6" into it.

I use to have that problem it was called brain fatigue.....   :rolleyes:   Its probably the string loop slipping over the nock groove on the tip.

Pics will help. It could be the handle you added is the handle area bends at all. It could also be too much wax on the string.

this is a trick i learnt on here


i do all my bow nocks like this now- kinder on the string.
my snakey osage bow also clicks - but cos its snakey- and the tips arent exactly in the same plane- the string loops click during draw.
same as the fellas explained above

I need to rework tiller in the morning a little , but I had a friend look and listen with me tonight. It's the knocks. Just like you said on your snakey bow. The twists put the tips different. I will rework the knocks too.
Thanks guys. Grateful

Got it. Tiller dialed in good. No more clicking.
I opened up the knocks and polished up good.
My first wild looking bow. Well not too wild.
Fast too.

Not going to build another osage bow. I have built 3 nice bows and after finishing them and get them shooting good the BLOW UP. Can't understand why. Never had any problems with any kind of white wood.

were all three staves from the same log?

Better stick with white wood then and send the snakey Osage to me so I can dispose of it properly for you    
Would love to see some of your white wood bows.

No, the staves were from different trees. One was a pony bow , the 2 others long bows. Maybe I need to make them wider. This one broke through the back at an up lifted twist. No ring violations, and edges rounded and smooth.
Yea Bert you can have em.

with the few snakey bows that i have built i like to rawhide the backs- stopping about 6 or 8" from the tips.
but then there are guys on here that build a LOT of snakey bows and dont have a problem- (scifres and co,) but thats just me- cheap insurance after all that effort.
really sorry to hear about your bad luck mate. never give up!
do you cut your own white wood staves?

Yes I do cut my own white wood. I am not going to give up. I have some nice straight osage spotted.
Some pignut hickory too. The osage is about 5" in diameter. 8' long.
 I'm going to rework this snakey bow. Might be able to get a kids bow out of it. For the fun of it I super glued with industrial strength glue and clamped it tight. I'll scrape it down to a light pull and what ever.

Well I tried something with this bow. I opened up the crack and poured industrial strength super glue, clamped it and waited. After it dried under pressure I gently bent the limb. It held. I flexed it over and over. Still held. So I took it down on draw weight and wrapped it 4" wide with sinew and left it for 5 days. Worked it for a while then strung it. Worked it more and shot it over and over. Still held. Go figure. It is target weight around 40 lbs.

great job- well done