knives and selfbow

[Briarbrow]

I thought I'd try to rob some acess to check on the thread(it worked)

That's quite a crowd you run with Danny; must be a blast.

My original point to sadiejane was not, nor never that sinew is useless on osage- only that all things considered there are better options imho-which would be on woods that might truly benefit.

There is a reason that those cultures with acess to superlative bow wood almost never develop a composite bow. And there are some bow designs /specialized usage which must be composites.

I'm curious; in your side by side stave test what efforts were taken to match the effect of sinew such as reflexing? (I have already proven to myself that with side by side wood there is no reason to expect it to be equal-see spine testing above) I appreciate your time. Thanks

SJ; I think the bow that Danny described sounds pretty cool. It's close to my favorite kind, so I'd make it a little different. Rectangular cross secttion. about 1.25 wide. semi active handle; rather than true D bend it's just a little stiffer in the grip. About 62 inch long w/ active recurves.

Best of luck with watever you choose

 

[Dannyboy Leather]

My original point to sadiejane was not, nor never that sinew is useless on osage- only that all things considered there are better options imho-which would be on woods that might truly benefit.

To sinew back, or not to sinew back, is not always clearly defined in some osage staves. Some osage staves can be fairly blemish free and yet hide an internal flaw. Others staves, full of pin knots, knots that have fallen out, wild grain structure (humps and bumps), etc. can actually make some pretty good self bows full of character . As you know, there is a lot to consider when fitting the outline of the bow on a particular stave. I made one self osage bow that had a 3/4" hole (knot had fallen out) in the upper limb. I told my compound bow friends that it was my sight! The large hole wasn't close to the edge of the limb, no checking or fracturing around it, so I just left it. The bow shot great for many years before I retired it.

There are a couple of reasons why I sometimes choose not to back an osage bow. If the wood has been drying for a bunch of years (15 - 20 yrs.), adding sinew backing will often cause cracking and checking from one end of the stave to the other, even with the belly taped while the sinew dries. It still may shoot just fine with the cracking since the sinew is so strong, but I am just not comfortable with a bow full of cracking where moisture can enter (some bowyer's fill the cracks and checking with super glue). The other type of bow that I won't sinew back is the longer bow (we already discussed the tension thing). In this case, sinew only becomes somewhat inert (like rawhide) and has diminishing returns on the limb.

Steaming in some recurved tips, perhaps reflexing the limbs from the riser, are often good things to do with many staves. While sinew backing is drying, it most always pulls some reflex into the limbs without the steaming process. If the bow is going to be a self bow, I do what it takes to minimize string follow without adding too much stress on the limbs. Eventually some string follow is going to happen with most self bows, but this is fine as it sometimes can enhance stability and cast (as long as the string follow is not excessive). Short, highly stressed osage bows, should have a backing, IMO. And, yes, I have blown up some short osage bows, with perfect tillers, simply because they were over stressed at my draw length.

There is a reason that those cultures with acess to superlative bow wood almost never develop a composite bow.

This is very true. However, their bow styles were usually reasonably long (low stress) or, they just expected bow failures on occasion (this can be seen in the low quality, hasty construction methods).

I'm curious; in your side by side stave test what efforts were taken to match the effect of sinew such as reflexing? (I have already proven to myself that with side by side wood there is no reason to expect it to be equal-see spine testing above)

I often use side-by-side billets for takedown or spliced handles. I make this choice for a variety of reasons. One important reason is because I find the two pieces fairly close in grain structure and performance characteristics. It is a bit like working on the full length stave. As mentioned, I don't always (though I have many times) steam a reflex into a stave that I will be backing with sinew. Without the sinew backing, I sometimes will steam a reflex depending on the nature of that particular stave. Still, even with a reflexed side-by-side stave compared with the sinew backed bow with equal reflex, the sinew backed still comes out on top with regards to performance, in my experience (talking only short bows here).