My first osage stave! ... It is finished!!...

[Steve Kendrot]

What happened? Am I a thread killer?            Any progress on your self bow?

[Echatham]

yeah Steve just going slow. ran into a busy week and my time in the shop has been limited. im down to a ring for almost half the stave.  didn't realize it would take this long to get started when i started the buildalong.  I think things will speed up once i get past ring chasing and on to bow making.

[Zradix]

Good luck Eric.
Speed isn't your ally on that one.

[Steve Kendrot]

I know what you mean. I can only work on mine weekends. Ring chasing goes a lot faster once you get comfortable with it.  Been doing most of my tillering with a sanding block. That's slow going. Trying to avoid the mistake I made on my first bow... taking wood off too fast.

[Echatham]

what is really making it slow is that its concave and there are i think 19 pin knots.  if anyone can provide insite or perhaps pictures of a good way to work a pin knot that would be great. i know not to level them off. but i can't see how you could truly follow a ring over it. they are different color and texture. there is plenty of wood left on mine. can there be too much?

[John Scifres]

Do you have pics of the pin knots?  Depending on their size you can generally get down to a ring around them pretty successfully with a scraper.  With a drawknife you have to be careful to work around them so as not to rip a splinter out near them.  If you have them near the edge of your limb, you have to be very careful not to scalp them.  As fat as those rings are you have a nice margin of error.  Leaving wood from a ring above your desired ring is usually not a good idea.  You can get them done, it just takes time; as you have found out.

[Echatham]

standard #2 pencil for scale.  these are some of the knots i have chased a ring around thus far.  im kind of scared to take any wood off above a knot... so i have been following the ring right up to them, and around them... but not over them. i find that the deeper my ring goes in the stave, the taller my knots end up being. does a growth ring tend to maintain the same thickness over a knot?

[Zradix]

oh my...you're a more patient man than I..
Very curious to hear what others have to say.

[Echatham]

Zradix I don't know about that! i can tell you that so far... the bbi was more fun to build. this is TEDIOUS! but im going to finish it and im not going to rush it.  the next selfbow i do is gonna have less character i can tell you that!

[John Scifres]

Get it as best you can and then lay the bow out to avoid as many knots as possible.  Once you get the bow cut out, then carefully remove the last of the unwanted material around the knots that are left.  Try to keep knots a good distance from the edge if possible.

[Echatham]

John that's my plan... i just don't know how much or which material is "unwanted" if that makes since.

[John Scifres]

Anything above the ring you are chasing.  It's ok to leave the knot since the tree grows around it and fibers are therefore undamaged.  Think of it as a rock in a stream.  The grain flows around it like water.  The pin or branch is not a risk to your back.  The risk lies in violating the fibers as they go around the pin or branch.

[Echatham]

ok, going around it is no problem, so I don't need to worry about going OVER it so much?  by the way thank you for your help.

[Echatham]

I know the light and the picture sucks, but im down to a ring to a little bit past the vice (going toward the saw) figured out the ring im chasing is already exposed in some places on this end of the stave... and it may be violated.  might have chase another ring. oh my.      

[Echatham]

[Zradix]

Well....think of it as darn good practice.
...I'm beginning to have my fill of practice as well...lol

[Echatham]

well im almost to the end of the stave, going quicker now. the ring was exposed or very close to the surface on this end, so it's going quicker. i don't believe it has been violated, so thats good. I may go ahead and chase the next ring anyway... but that will be after i have layed out the profile and removed a bunch of wood. should be there by tomorrow night. then, gents, I will deliver a proper build along    

[Zradix]

that's good news.

[Echatham]

spoke to soon. it was violated. its ok though. i got a good clean look at the stave so I am comfortable laying out the bow now. I cut some excess off the end, and im going to remove some excess off the sides so i have about half the surface area to work. and only one growth ring to remove this time. stand by for pictures.....

[Echatham]

here is where the ring i was following was lost. all i did was scrape off the wax and i seen it. its very easy in the right light to see your growth rings. the shiny hard looking wood in the middle there is the late wood, the pithy lookin stuff around it is the early wood.