- Osage Orange
- Leather
One of my greatest passions is archery. I shoot both compound as well as recurve because I just love to shoot. A selfbow or simple bow is made from a single piece of wood called a stave. One of the best woods for a selfbow is Osage Orange. It is a small deciduous tree prized for it's strength and dimensional stability. Since Osage is not indigenous to my area I turned to Ebay to find a suitable stave.
The goal of a selfbow is to scrape the back down to a single growth ring along the full length of the stave. Osage trees don’t usually grow very straight, so finding a clean, straight piece is pretty rare and expensive. Since it was my first attempt I didn't want to invest in a pristine pricey blank. Mine was a bit snakey and had a pretty significant twist to it so I steamed it out over the stove while my wife was out of town. :)
I chose to forego the power tools and used a drawknife and a rasp for all the shaping. The entire process is slow but extremely meditative and rewarding. I encourage you to give it a try.