First osage selfbow and ring chasing.....PICS ADDED

[highpoint forge]

I do have a bandsaw. What should I do?

[John Scifres]

I hesitate to offer specifics as I have been bitten before doing so.  You can glean how I would handle it by this link:   http://sticknstring.webs.com/roughout.htm

[highpoint forge]

Only problem is I do not have enough to make an entire bow from a single stave. 50" would be rather pinchy.

[Roy from Pa]

Take your 2 best 50 inchers, pick out the best 36" section on each one, cut that 36" section off and do a Z splice to glue those two 36" sections together.

[John Scifres]

Yes, billets are your only choice.  50" is too short for a full draw bow.  Shortest I have made is 51", sinew backed, bend in the handle.  It was my 175th bow.  I would have never tried it early in my experience.

[George Tsoukalas]

You mentioned you had used hickory for axe handles.

Hickory is very, very good bow wood.

Can you get some?

Jawge

[highpoint forge]

Yup 4/8 big ol boards

[George Tsoukalas]

Straight grained?
It's a good learning wood. No ring chasing needed and you can learn to tiller.
Jawge

[highpoint forge]

Yes I can get some

[highpoint forge]

Wood World here in town has it all. It's the woodworkers' spot to get wood. That hickory board is a BEAST.  I've been making axe handles. Now I wish I had a bigger motor on that saw and a drawknife bench.

[highpoint forge]

What about......20/24":

[John Scifres]

Osage burns hot  

[LittleBen]

For those of us in Nosage country it's painful to hear you talk about Osage as firewood. Those would make some number of riser blocks or about 6000 arrow footing blanks ...

[highpoint forge]

Trash?

[highpoint forge]

Send me the postage and it's yours!

[John Scifres]

I have messed with osage for a long time and seen thousands of trees.  Maybe 1 in 100 are tolerable bow wood and 1 in 500 are special.  The rest are weeds.  

Of the trees I have cut for bows, maybe 5% of their mass is bow wood, the rest is firewood.  So if my math is correct, at its best, only .05% of the osage growing is bow wood.  

One can only make so many walking sticks, riser blocks, and footings with the rest of it  

[Paul/KS]

highpoint,
Come up to Mojam and we'll send ya home with some better staves. Plus there will be plenty of folks to coach and help you get started.

[highpoint forge]

Yeah buddy.

[J.F. Miller]

Originally posted by John Scifres:
I have messed with osage for a long time and seen thousands of trees.  Maybe 1 in 100 are tolerable bow wood and 1 in 500 are special.  The rest are weeds.  

Of the trees I have cut for bows, maybe 5% of their mass is bow wood, the rest is firewood.  So if my math is correct, at its best, only .05% of the osage growing is bow wood.  

One can only make so many walking sticks, riser blocks, and footings with the rest of it    

This has been my experience as well. What you have there is firewood. Honestly, I don't see many good riser blocks in there with all the deep checking. perhaps some arrow footing, pen blanks, knife handles or tip overlays. Still, if you live in a place where it gets cold, osage firewood is special in its own right. nothing burns hotter.

[highpoint forge]

Anybody want to give me the best riser blank dimension and I'll cut some out and run them through the planer.  What about the young straight 8 to 10 inch thick trees in the same place as this one that literally go straight up no leaning nothing...?