Lesson # 1

[jreyna920]

Well the night before last I strolled into my archery room to get started on stripping shafts so I can fletch some new arrows for the up coming 3d season and and got hung up along the way. I have had this Osage stave sitting in the corner of my room since the longbow championship earlier in the year where I had purchased it, and although I've grabbed it before I've always admired it and put it back for the fear of just making a mess and screwin up the stave. Well this night was different, forgetting about the arrows I grabbed the draw knife I purchased the same day and decided to learn how to use the draw knife and the stave looked like my best option as far as things laying around to hack up. I first thought let's just take it easy and just cut into the first ring and see what this is all about. To back up for a sec, this stave was picked from Arvins culls after he bought a boat load from the same guy as well as all that were picked up though out that weekend... I grabbed it as he was cleaning up his booth.

Back to Lesson #1, I was slowly widdleing away at my one stave and grabbed a good grain and drug the knife deep into several growth rings, so now my experimental mindset went into damage control as panic started setting in that I had screwed up the stave. See the reason I have not cut into the stave before is because I have had no experience building any bows nor any instruction or done my research, I literally have no clue what I'm doing other then what little I've picked up from looking at self bows and overheard either here on the site or chatting with guys about them. I put the bowyers bibles on my christmas list and although I'm sure kelli has ordered me the volumes I wasn't interest in waiting.

I trimmed the stave down to the deepest point of my impatient blemish and started trying to follow a ring again from one end to the other. Several attempts and growth rings later I was getting very close to making it the full length without shaving to deep. I was really feeling like I've made a mistake because well the majority of my stave was now a huge pile of Osage shavings in the middle of my floor. I hadn't even paused long enough to consider moving this messy project to the garage. I had carved the stave from about 6" thick down to nearly the splintery bottom, I had followed a growth ring finally with maybe enough left just to make a bow.

I have been swamped at work and got to work a little on it tonight, and grabbed my draw knife and started shaving the belly of the limbs and putting a tapper to the bottom limb to closer match what was left of the stave to make the top limb.

So far, I am please about the outcome but have decided to maybe ask a few questions before I continue with the moments obsession.

I have shaved the belly side and followed a growth ring at around 9/16" of limb thickness on both limbs, is the growth ring play as important of a role in the compression side of the bow? Can a shave into the rings to tiller in or should I just thin the limbs?

Can you trap limbs on a self bow without complications?

Also, how do you count the growth rings? I know this kinda seams like a stupid question but this bow has little thin growth rings and they alternate light then dark..... Do I only count the light rings or both?

I believe I've heard that the more rings in a bow the better, and is there any wisdom on why some Osage is darker then others? This stave has more of a golden brown color the the bright yellow like I've seen new bows even in the fresh cuts.... Does this mean anything?

Finally, is there a rule of thumb on how high above center to cut shelf ?


All in all this has been a lot of fun and I hope to keep finding time to work on it... Thanks for the help in advance here's a few pics















Constructive criticism welcomed


John

[widdler]

John make sure you followed one growth ring on the back if you have start the tillering process by floor tillering push the tips against the floor while holding onto the handle section it needs to bend about 4 ". Cut you some nocks use a long string and a tillering stick. Evenly take material from the bottom while making the bow bend even. Use a bathroom scale to check the draw weight. Do not exceed the draw weight while reaching the draw length. The tiller stick should be marked in inches 1 to 40 with a concave top to put the bow handle or string in put the bottom of the tiller stick on the scale and pull down while watching the inches. Take off wood on the belly until
draw weight matches draw length. Leave the last 10" stiff as possible on each limb. Have fun.

[Bisch]

^^^^^^I bet that is all easier said than done!

Good luck with your project, John.

Bisch

[jreyna920]

Thanks Rick!

Like I said it took almost the whole stave to get down to the one ring, because of the way the log split, once I was happy with the back I knew I might not have much choice as far as weight goes because of what was left to form the top limb. I've shaved away at the bottom to match the top as close as I can tell by eye with floor tillering, I need to make a board to do the final tillering, I'm going to rough out the handle before that though, I also am wanting to put sheeps horn on the tips, that I'll pick up at Texas knife makers tomorrow.

From what I'm seeing the limbs are now at 1/2" thick and look to have 9 grow rings in that 1/2". On the top limb there's a spot on the right edge thats thin, the way the tree grew following the growth ring left me with a pinch where the 9 rings squeeze down to about 3/8" but they are all there and no cuts into them...... Do you think that would cause a problem? In that case should you leave a little of the previous ring to fill the void or just go ahead and follow the ring like I did " this is on the belly"



Thanks again


John

[eastex56]

Dont worry about the growth rings on the belly. If you are down to one continuous ring on the back, then the key is to take the wood off the belly as needed to get the limbs to bend in a smooth arc out toward the tips. You will find places where the limb is stiff and you will need to remove wood from the belly to get that spot to follow the desired arc. The thing to watch out for when working the belly is to not take off too much at one time in a particular spot. This will cause a 'hinge' and once it happens, there is nothing to do but take wood off the belly of the rest of the limb to recreate the smooth arc. This reduces the draw weight and you might miss your desired weight by quite a bit (voice of experience here! LOL) My advice is to GO SLOWLY. Build your tillering stick--either a tillering stick or a tillering tree are essential to seeing where you have strong and weak spots in your limbs. The time taken to build the stick or the tree is a good investment. You will use it every time you build a selfbow. When you have the bow 'floor tillered', you will begin to use the tillering stick or tree. At that point, i usually use either a rasp or scraper to work the belly. You can use the drawknife on the belly but you have to be very careful--as you already found out---because it can do some severe damage in a hurry. It can be a weapon of mass destruction on your stave. Good luck and enjoy the time you spend on the build. Building a selfbow is as much about the journey (process) as the destination(result)!!!

[meangene1969]

As others have said dont worry about the rings on the belly. I would suggest using a dull draw knife. I believe they are easier to control and work smoother. I'm starting on a new one this week. I use a horse rasp on the belly then use different files and paper till I have it tillered correctly. I follow what widdler and Arvin have suggested. I have read all bowyers bibles and they are good for knowledge and the selfbow soul. Give me a call, we will talk Osage.

[Deb]

John, I don't believe you did that in the house.

[Bisch]

John, I don't believe you did that in the house.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit!!!!

Bisch

[widdler]

Man John you cant go wrong with all the help you have on this site Good people here thats all I can say. PM your number and I will call you and you can call me in the evening I can talk you through any problems that you might have.

[Indian Creek]

Cool looking project> Good luck

[Ron Meloni]

If that's your first try, I'm sure you'll be just fine. Looks like a great start.

[jreyna920]

Yes this is my first time, I'm heading to Texas knife makers to get some sheep's horn for tips... Any suggestions on what's best to adhere the tips soundly? I also am considering adding to the back of the riser to give me another 1/2" of material to grind my handle from..... By doing this would it be classified as a self bow still or would it be considered a composite even though there's no lams in the limbs? I wish the pics would do it justice but I'm really feeling like Arvin might have passed up on an exceptional piece of wood. Like I said I'm a beginner but I was raised by a family of carpenters.... And I can say I am comfortable working wood. I'm pretty excited to see what it turns out like. The wood itself has dictated every cut and it seems very sound... But then again I don't have experience with Osage


John

[Bisch]

Yes this is my first time, I'm heading to Texas knife makers to get some sheep's horn for tips... Any suggestions on what's best to adhere the tips soundly? I also am considering adding to the back of the riser to give me another 1/2" of material to grind my handle from..... By doing this would it be classified as a self bow still or would it be considered a composite even though there's no lams in the limbs? I wish the pics would do it justice but I'm really feeling like Arvin might have passed up on an exceptional piece of wood. Like I said I'm a beginner but I was raised by a family of carpenters.... And I can say I am comfortable working wood. I'm pretty excited to see what it turns out like. The wood itself has dictated every cut and it seems very sound... But then again I don't have experience with Osage


John

John, I'm pretty sure you would have to shoot that in the composite class at a TBoT shoot.

Bisch

[jreyna920]

Roughing out riser and tips

[Selfbowman]

Yes John the overlays on the tips will be fine in tbot shoots if not there will be a huge arguement at the shoots since 1/3 of the bows have them. Your bow is looking good and bad as I hate to say it Widdler can be a good source of help. Haha love ya Widdler.