The stave was knot free, no natural curves no humps no bumps. I thought it is a good idea to add a bit: ironwood handle (don’t no the exact species – but is of course not HHB), ridge on the belly (runs out 4” before tip). Buffalo horn for tip overlays and black calf leatherRead more
osage
This bow is made out of a unique stave. The back is along almost the entire length homogenous concave. This is enormous mass saving, but tillering is a bit more complicated. The belly ridge comes out of the fades and ends with the tips. Cross section is more or less a 5edge with a concaveRead more
This stave was super clean, bright yeller and low density – so something like the opposite osage than bow No.95. But has some nice character, curves and whoop di doos. Some little heat correctings brought it in balance and in line. Black buffalo horn for the tip overlays and dyed salmon leather for the handleRead more
This bow is made from an exceptional fat and thin ringed osage. The early wood is here not crispy than usual, but as hard and fat like the late wood. It was a fun to work with that wood, my scraper went through like on butter without creating any humps and bumps on the wood.WhatRead more
It was a hard struggle to tiller this bow, lot of reflex and a good load of curves. The reflex is not spread along the limbs, but comes from kinks in the fades and the limbs are more or less straight. The kinks in lower and upper limb hadn’t the same amount, so one wasRead more
Long time ago I made a 5 curve bow out of a pair of nice, snakey and very old osage sister billets. All curves were steamed in, except the central at the handle which was induced as a backset splice. The greyish brown color was already in the wood. That bow came out a bitRead more
It doesn’t need much wood to make a serious bow from osage. This bow comes from a splinter, a left over from a thicker stave. It was only 1” wide and 5/8” thick at maximum, but super clean and needed only a bit of dry heat corrections for string alignment. This bow is made forRead more
I think a wide limbed osage is possible, if it is short enough. Two things have to be saved, the mass and the length of the lever. Saving mass can be achieved by narrowing the outers and short leverage of course by short limbs. So let’s see … I had a nice clean and moreRead more
I have made in the last time same short, wide limbed osage bows and I must say I like them a lot. It was a nice and clean stave, thick enough to get also a belly split – here is the back split. Some adjustments were necessary also some reflex was induced. Fade is 6”Read more
Nice stick with some character and a hole in the upper limb. I used it to get some pheasant feathers on. The stick was fumed with a chased ring as a bow blank,. After tillering I got that two tone appearance. It was a bit thin for a good handle, I glued on a pieceRead more