Osage "driftwood" short bow, part 1 - roughing out

I started this blog as a place to collect my thoughts -- at least the ones I already had started writing down in email for my friend Jarrod so he could be a vicarious bowyer and "build along" with me as I worked on one of my various bow projects. Seemed like since I was writing them into email and attaching photos, I might as well just write it in a blog format. At least that way the photos can be in-line with the text. And this might be of interest to someone else.

The start of this post is a bit of catch-up. I've compiled below some of what I had originally written in email, so it's a little choppy. Before the posts, a bit of context: Jarrod had given me a piece of osage he had sitting around in his garage for several years. It was a sad state of affairs: The rings were narrow, with a fair proportion of earlywood, and one end of it had been worked down considerably through many of the rings. He said a kid had started working on it. It looked more like a beaver had gotten hold of it. In addition, there were several longitudinal cracks (looked like heart shake?) and a dark red streak running down one side. Sadly, I didn't take any photos of the "before," so you'll just have to trust me on it. This was truly a piece of "driftwood," as Jarrod dubbed it. Now onto the previous posts:

6/19/2014:

I started working the osage stave today, just scraping down the sides through the oxidation and rough fibers to get the true layout of the rings. I could definitely resaw it and get 1 backed bow out of it. It might be possible to resaw it in a different way and get 2 backed bows out of it. It MIGHT be possible to get a reasonable-length self-bow out of it by gluing on a handle. It might even be possible to get both a glued-handle selfbow AND get a backed bow out of it. I must have spent 2-3 hours just scraping and looking that piece over today... 

6/20/2014:

So I worked on the osage stave again today. I discovered a red streak in it (just like the one Dean mentioned in HOB!) Whether it is good or ill, it probably doesn't matter. Here's what I've discovered:

The thick rings are way at the bottom of the stave. The red streak is about 1/2" from the sapwood-- the thick rings start 10 rings below the red one, and in total there are no more than 17 rings below the streak (most places 15). This means that I've got about 5-6 good thick rings at the bottom of the stave. (I was able to number the rings on both sides and both ends AND to confirm by tracing around the stave AND able to mark out the rings exposed on the belly.)

Right now I'm thinking of using the bandsaw to capture 1 good inch of thickness from the belly side. This should provide enough room to work down to a thick unbroken ring. I'll have to glue a section on near the handle area to make thickness of 1 1/4", but most of the handle should end up being all of a piece with the bow. The stave has decent reflex in it, so I'm looking forward to it.

Complication: The one end is already worked way down (past ring 10 in some places), so I'm not sure if I'll make enough length for a rigid handled bow. I may end up with a 58" ntn length, in which case I'll need to consider making this a bend-through-the-handle bow. 

With the "waste" wood from the back side of the stave, I think I may have enough thickness left over to saw into two narrow 40" billets which could then be joined and backed. They would likely be narrower than Dean suggests, so they'd likely end up as a lighter weight bow (kid's bow?). I could conceivably even make it a two-piece instead of joining them. Possibilities abound.

In between, it got worked on. As I had thought I might, I took off the back section with the bandsaw. The sawed off section got put aside for a possible second bow (more on that later), then I chased the rings of the remaining wood down to a single growth ring, leaving 60 usable inches of wood in length. The plan to make an unbacked 58" bend-through-handle bow had now solidified. More later.