# Osage Self Bow; build along



## Todd Cook (Jun 9, 2014)

Well Martin, you inspired me. Most of ya'll know I make glass bows. I've made 3 hickory selfbows that turned out pretty good. I've never tried osage, but always wanted to.

A few weeks ago Charlie 2 Arrows gave me a stave. And a nice one too. It's out of a tree he cut in South Carolina. 

Today I cut into it just a little, kinda nibbled around the edges 

I think I'll take it to the Poole plantation this weekend and let the arteest give me some pointers. The stave is very straight for osage, with only a couple knots. The rings are tight though, and I don't really know how to chase one. Would this be a good candidate for a bamboo back, or would you make a selfbow?


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## dh88 (Jun 9, 2014)

I'm a rookie myself but the ring in the center of the dime and the one below it look good to me.


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## Steve Milbocker (Jun 10, 2014)

Those are great rings. No need to back that one.


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## NCHillbilly (Jun 11, 2014)

Those are actually fairly fat rings for osage. It's a little heavy on the earlywood to latewood ratio, but it should make a good shooter. Chasing rings isn't that hard, especially with plenty of earlywood between each ring like that.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 14, 2014)

Well, I learned  a few things today: 
1. Osage is TOUGH stuff.
2. A hickory selfbow is far less work than osage.
3. Chasing a ring, although time consuming, isn't so difficult. 
4. This stuff could get addictive.

I traveled down to the Poole plantation today for the SGTP shoot and fundraiser. Great day of fun and fellowship. I knew I needed some guidance, so I asked Dan Beckwith for help. He took one look at the stave and said it will make a fine bow. 

He showed me how to follow the growth rings on the back down to a single layer. Basically you pick one and scrape away till you get there. Sounds easy enough. 3 hours later, I had maybe half of it done. That's ok, it's not a fast process.

Dan helped me cut out a rough bow shape. We used a hickory selfbow I made a couple of years ago as a guide, but cut well outside the lines.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 14, 2014)

Folks, if you want to learn about making selfbows, or shoot a good 3-d course, or just want to have some good clean fun, Ya'll should go to SGTP sometime. I took a couple of pics of some young folks learning the craft.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 15, 2014)

I can't really call this a buildalong, as I'm just a osage rookie, so we'll just call it a learn a long. I'll post what I did, but better advice is available.

I've always read about chasing a ring on osage, and it seems like some mystical process, but it's really not that complicated. A stave is sort of like an onion, in that it's rings are in layers around the tree.( see the pictures at the start of this thread) Say you want to get to the 5th layer toward the center of an onion.( I don't know why you'd want to, it's just the best analogy I could come up with.) All you have to do is peel of the 4 layers on top of it.

The reason for making the back of the bow a single growth ring is this: The latewood( the thicker, darker rings) are very strong and flexible. The earlywood( the lighter colored wood between the latewood) is more brittle . Say for instance your your limb back had 2 different growth rings on the back. As the limb flexes, the junction between the rings is likely to separate, causing the limb to fail.

You can easily see the difference in osage rings. This shows 3 or 4 layers.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 15, 2014)

This shows the back further along. Most of the bow is to one ring. You can see clearly at the bottom what's left to do. Notice a couple of small spots of earlywood . I will scape them off later.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 15, 2014)

I started out with a drawknife, using it as a scraper. I like this better though. It's a scraper made from a piece of sawmill band saw. I put it in a vise and draw filed the edge flat. It gets nice and sharp.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 16, 2014)

Got it down to one ring, and cut out to bow size.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 16, 2014)

buckbacks said:


> That ones just gonna be to easy.



Easy is good sometimes! Besides, there's still plenty of ways I could mess it up I have to admit, one of those crooked ones might be a fun challenge.


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## SELFBOW (Jun 16, 2014)

Todd Cook said:


> Easy is good sometimes! Besides, there's still plenty of ways I could mess it up I have to admit, one of those crooked ones might be a fun challenge.



I'm sure some of the crooked ones are NOT any fun......w that said I'm enjoying mine and the one I'm working on now......


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## SELFBOW (Jun 17, 2014)

dpoole said:


> Come to SGTP the second sat of next month and you can get started.



I think he lives in Ohio Donnie.....


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## Todd Cook (Jun 20, 2014)

I've got a dumb question. When you're floor tillering, how do you know when to put a long string on it? I've got it bending 3 or 4 inches, but I think it's still 90 or 100 pounds.

When I built my hickory selfbows, I started tillering when they were way heavy. It worked, but it took forever. Just wondering if there was some general guideline to this part.


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## SELFBOW (Jun 20, 2014)

Todd Cook said:


> I've got a dumb question. When you're floor tillering, how do you know when to put a long string on it? I've got it bending 3 or 4 inches, but I think it's still 90 or 100 pounds.
> 
> When I built my hickory selfbows, I started tillering when they were way heavy. It worked, but it took forever. Just wondering if there was some general guideline to this part.


When it starts bending good
Dan puts a string on his when its ready to shoot....


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## Todd Cook (Jun 21, 2014)

I got some work done today.I cut in some string grooves, thinned it down a little more, and put a long string on it.I started out real slow, just making sure the limbs would bend somewhat even.

This stave is fairly straight with no big knots, but it has lots of hills and dips in its back. I sort of followed the contour of the back to lay out the thickness. I'm not sure that's the right way to do it, but that's what I did. The problem with the bumps and lumps is it's hard to see tiller for me. This picture shows what I mean. I'm not much of one to name bows, but if this one survives I think I'll call her lumpy


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## Todd Cook (Jun 21, 2014)

I decided to make a tillering gizmo with a block of wood . I forgot to take a picture of that but I will later. It's a really simple affective tool that I believe Eric Crewson invented.

I started scraping the high spots and slowly bending the limbs a little further.


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## Todd Cook (Jun 21, 2014)

I ended the evenings work at 35 pounds at 18 inches draw. I put a shorter string on her and braced to about 4 inches. Long ways to go but having fun! More in a day or 2.


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## SELFBOW (Jun 21, 2014)

The right side looks dangerous to me. I'd get the left tip bending more  but what do I know only made two so far .....


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## Todd Cook (Jun 21, 2014)

Couldn't stand it, had to do a little more. Getting closer I think 36# @21


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## SELFBOW (Jun 22, 2014)

That looks great !


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## longbowdave1 (Jun 22, 2014)

Coming along nicely Todd!


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## pine nut (Jun 22, 2014)

Nice so far Todd!


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## Todd Cook (Jun 22, 2014)

It shoots! The tiller's not perfect, but it's not to bad. The tape is just a temporary mark for the arrow. I shot it about 35 or 40 times this afternoon with a cane arrow I had. Looks to be about 55 pounds.


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## SELFBOW (Jun 22, 2014)

Both of mine when I hit mid 50s I stopped. Kinda was afraid to keep thinning them but it doesn't take a lot of wood on Osage. I'm still chasing the ring on one limb on mine no hurries.

How long is your bow?


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## Todd Cook (Jun 22, 2014)

buckbacks said:


> Both of mine when I hit mid 50s I stopped. Kinda was afraid to keep thinning them but it doesn't take a lot of wood on Osage. I'm still chasing the ring on one limb on mine no hurries.
> 
> How long is your bow?



It's 64"


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## charlie 2 arrow (Jun 22, 2014)

Looking good!


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## ddauler (Jun 23, 2014)

Looks like a future bloody killer!


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## SELFBOW (Jun 25, 2014)

Are you finished w it now?

I violated a lower ring on one of my limbs and gonna have to dig deeper. Just time consuming mainly. W the twisted limbs it easy to do...


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## Todd Cook (Jun 25, 2014)

buckbacks said:


> Are you finished w it now?
> 
> I violated a lower ring on one of my limbs and gonna have to dig deeper. Just time consuming mainly. W the twisted limbs it easy to do...



Not yet, I got real busy at work. I've been shooting it in the evenings. I really do like the way it shoots. I ended up with a little string follow, but it shoots hard. Actually quicker than I thought it might be.

I could see how a ring like that would be hard to chase. Mine was fairly easy as far as osage goes, and it still took me 8 hours. Very relaxing though.

I'm gonna try to get it finished within the next week. I need to get some lighter spined arrows too. My regular woodies shoot but their too stiff.


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## dpoole (Jun 25, 2014)

lookin good congrat.


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## SELFBOW (Jun 26, 2014)

I had 16 hours in my first bow.

I spent 30 hours building Copperhead but never got in a hurry. Dan can do it in 1


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## Todd Cook (Jun 27, 2014)

She's finished.....I think!  I've got about 200-250 arrows through her. 2 inches of string follow when first unstrung, about 1 inch after a few minutes. I finished with satin poly and wrapped the grip with jute cord. Got to make a better string; this one's borrowed of another bow. There are several things I would do different on the next one, but I'm pretty tickled with this one. Shoots hard and where I look. What more can you ask for?


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## SELFBOW (Jun 27, 2014)

Time for #2. Maybe a snaky bow now.........


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## Todd Cook (Jun 27, 2014)

buckbacks said:


> Time for #2. Maybe a snaky bow now.........



Maybe.... I need to bloody this one up. Maybe I could help thin out some of those pigs of your's. I'd hate for you to get overpopulated....


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## Skunkhound (Jun 29, 2014)

Looks great Todd. Good job.


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## dpoole (Jun 29, 2014)

looks good


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## Vance Henry (Jul 7, 2014)

Hey Todd.  That self bow sure looks nice.  But.......how does that other bow look?


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