Designing a Snakey Osage Bow

[@eddieberry8450]

Your videos are always informative, interesting and worthwhile

[@SwiftwoodBows]

Thank you!

[@chrisclarke3670]

Great video Waylin.

[@UncleDanBand64]

Nicely done and very well explained 👍

[@HeartlandMakesAndOutdoors]

Nicely done on this video sir, Thanks for taking the time to share this with us and I hope you have a blessed week. Dale

[@SwiftwoodBows]

You're welcome! Thanks for the feedback

[@louiepacheco327]

Man love your video's.

[@SwiftwoodBows]

Thanks!

[@godzillaburger9690]

Looking forward to the next video. I haven't had the luck of getting such a stave, yet. Cheers.

[@SwiftwoodBows]

Thanks. They can certainly be hard to find. I got a couple together but have yet to come across more.

[@RedmanOutdoors366]

Very cool man 😎👍💯🔥🏹

[@graefletcher2733]

Hey Waylin. Thanks for putting up the snakey Osage build. It’s what I’m currently working with. First Osage too. I’ve gotten rid of most of excess material and it’s at floor tiller stage. The limbs have knots which are causing the thickness to vary a lot. Do I need to keep material around the knots? What would you advise? Your vids are great, so helpful. Thanks again. Grae

[@SwiftwoodBows]

watch how the grain flows around the knots and use that as a guideline for leaving some extra width around the knots.

[@halyost2243]

I have access to plenty of Osage and want to make my first bow. How long should I let the wood age after cutting down the tree before working the wood?

[@SwiftwoodBows]

Cut it into 6' logs and split them into 3" wide staves. Remove the bark and sapwood and seal the back and ends well with wood glue. Store them in a dry place out of the elements where they have good air flow. It will probably take at least a year like that to be ready. Buy a couple seasoned staves in the meantime. Some guys with seasoned staves will work out a trade for wet staves sometimes.

[@bobgriffin2743]

My only question that you didn't address is making sure the limb tips and center of the bow are going to line up when it comes time to string this bow.

[@SwiftwoodBows]

yes, string alignment is important. on a stave like this there's not much you can do at this stage to impact the alignment. You have to follow the grain religiously on a snakey stave. If that gives you good string alignment then that's ideal. If it doesn't then it needs to be corrected with heat later in the process. There isn't much you could do about it in the layout without violating grain.

[@NorsewoodBows]

Hey Weylin, love your vids...I have recently made a bow, the first one that didn't break on me, and I was looking here on youtube to find vids showing how one can put a leather handlewrap on a bow? Didn't find much...So as an idea for a future vid, is maybe showcasing this proces of bowmaking? In your vids you really have spanned a lot of information about bowmaking - very much an inspiration for me. Another idea could maybe showing how you splice a bow together from shorter staves....Not a single vid I can find here on youtube, showing this proces :(

[@SwiftwoodBows]

Thank you for the ideas. Both of those are on my list. I hope to get to them soon.

[@NorsewoodBows]

@@SwiftwoodBows that is fantastic to hear! Gonna look for your vids in the future... Also, thank you so much for making content like this - it is so valuable for upcoming bowbuilders/bowyers, like me self and others😃

[@mikeseeley1042]

Hey Christian, Gary Davis covers splicing quite thoroughly in his "Rattlestick Bow" DVD. :^)

[@OdegardOnline]

Definitely interested in future videos! How are you going to get the permanent marker off the back when you're done? Alcohol?

[@SwiftwoodBows]

Thanks, I'll do at least one more with this bow. The back is coated with a sealer that will need to come off anyway. The ring is chased but is still a little rough so I'll be hitting it with a scraper and some sandpaper. the marker will be long gone by then. It's a good point though. if you had a really nicely chased ring that only needed some light sanding and not finish then I definitely would not use a marker. Like I said in the video, I usually use a pencil.

[@OdegardOnline]

I have two staves with really fine growth rings. For my first time chasing a ring, it's pretty hairy going! I can't imagine having to get rid of permanent marker on top of it. (I'll probably end up backing them, but it will be good experience trying to chase the ring.)

[@SwiftwoodBows]

thin rings are stressful, I've been there. definitely dont use a permanent marker on them. :)

[@frankleyva405]

Great video Weylin, thanks for sharing. I have a snakey stave that's 1.25 inches where the fades are going to end up. I was kind of skeptical when I looked at the stave, but decided to give it a try. Do you think the width is questionable?

[@SwiftwoodBows]

1.25 inches is a functional width for osage. It's going to depend somewhat on the length of the stave and the draw weight and draw length you want out of it. If you have a narrower width then you way want to make it a little longer or modify your expectations for what you can get out of the stave. It doesn't take much osage to make a good bow. I'd say go for it.

[@frankleyva405]

@@SwiftwoodBows The stave is 64" long. I'm shooting for 50lbs+/- @28in. Thanks Weylin!

[@SwiftwoodBows]

That might be asking too much from that stave. with a 64" stave the bow will be 62" long. you might consider making a bow that bends through the handle to get more working limb out of the stave, especially with the narrow width profile. Otherwise with a stiff handle at those specs you'll risk taking a lot of set or even breaking the bow.

[@frankleyva405]

@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you Weylin! I will definitely go that route.

[@frankleyva405]

@@SwiftwoodBows making a bend through the handle bow could be your next bow build series. 😉