Experimenting with poor quality osage

[scrub-buster]

I posted this on P.A. but I thought you guys might enjoy seeing it as well.  While at the Tennessee Classic last week I did some experimenting with poor quality osage.  It had super thin rings and a bad early to late wood ratio.  I wanted to find out if violating thin rings would cause the bow to break.  I had seen a bow like that a few years earlier and I wanted to try it for myself.  

I used a draw knife to remove the bark and sapwood.  I used a scraper to smooth the back out.  I never paid any attention to growth rings.  I had violations all over it.  I sanded the back to 400 grit and coated in in superglue.  I repeated the sanding and glueing twice.  This is how it looked when I was done with the back.

 


   


The terrible ring thickness and ratio.

   


The next day I put some osage tip overlays on it and tapered the limb thickness.  I took it straight to full brace.  The dimensions made it look like a 90 lb bow but it was actually very light in physical and draw weight.  I took a few scrapes off one limb to even up the brace height.  My assistant DVS holding it for me

 


I put it on the tillering tree and pulled it straight back to 28".  The bow held up just fine.  The tiller wasn't perfect but it wasn't to bad.  

 

[scrub-buster]

The bow took a lot of set.  It wasn't worth finishing up.  It would never be a good shooter so I decided to see how far it would draw before blowing up.  At 32" both limbs snapped off with a loud bang.  Everyone in the bow shop enjoyed seeing it explode.  Here is a video of it.

  http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y406/Gsulfridge/Mobile%20Uploads/CE028CE8-A563-4AFE-9BC4-C8A4CD60D8A0_zpsmzgu2ixw.mp4  


The aftermath
     


   


I sawed one limb off near the break to see what the rings looked like there.  I considered the experiment a success.  It didn't break at a ring violation.  I want to try this again on another thin ringed stave that has a better latewood ratio.

   

[takefive]

Cool video!  Never thought I'd see osage snap straight across like that.    

[DVSHUNTER]

That assistant of yours is better looking every time I see him.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Exactly my thoughts, Dave.

[michaelschwister]

I have found that if you get to one ring, and toast the belly (heat temper) ala Marc St Loius, these bows turn out to be fine shooters.......

[Onehair]

What's the process for toasting the belly?

[scrub-buster]

Originally posted by michaelschwister:
I have found that if you get to one ring, and toast the belly (heat temper) ala Marc St Loius, these bows turn out to be fine shooters.......

Chasing a ring wasn't necessary.  It didn't break on a violation.  Toasting the belly wouldn't have helped out any.  This bow was 80% early wood.  No backing would have helped it either.  It was junk wood.  All I wanted to learn from it was if the violated rings would fail.  They did not.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Early wood is J-U-N-K. When there is too much and the ratio is that funked up, nothing helps.

[mwosborn]

Originally posted by PEARL DRUMS:
Early wood is J-U-N-K. When there is too much and the ratio is that funked up, nothing helps.

Maybe fiberglass.    

[scrub-buster]

I doubt it.  This stuff might be good for a riser.  It has very low physical weight.

[rainman]

Anybody else notice that DVSHUNTER and Ragnor Lothbrok from the show Vikings look alike.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I thought Dave was Amish? He isn't?

[scrub-buster]

He must be one of them Ohio Amish.

[Roy from Pa]

I think he is.. LOL