Osage Kid's Bow, Part 4

Previously, Part 3.

I finished the bow. Maximum draw length is 22”. Weight at 21” is 15#.

Kids’ bows, especially osage ones, will have disproportionally thinner limbs compared to their full sized counterparts. This stave also had a little bit of character to it. The rises and dips on the belly and back, combined with the thinness of the limbs, made tillering a little difficult.






















The top limb looks to have a stiff spot in the middle-third of the limb. This limb had quite a bit waves in the grain which made tillering tricky. It got to a certain point where it simply refused to bend anymore. If I continued to scrap away, I'd run a risk of making that portion of the limb too thin. Sometimes you just have to stop scraping.

The belly of the bow is flattened, but the corners are very much rounded. There pin knot on the edge of the limb that had me concerned because there was a violation of the growth ring. The bow has held up just fine. On a full-poundage adult bow, I would have wrapped this area with nylon serving material and soaked it in glue for insurance. The second picture has the violation highlighted in blue to show you you where it is:



















I hadn't done a leather handle in quite some time because rattan is my favored grip material. Rattan would be too thick for a handle this size, so some old furniture leather was used.

The crack that was filled with super glue goes straight through the limb. It's holding up fine. It's good that it runs with the grain and is located at the tips, instead of a working part of the limb.



I sprayed 4 coats of minwax gloss helmsman on it. I’m not a fan of spray urethanes, but this time the finish sprayed evenly.


This bow will make a good bow for a child until about the age of 10 or so, or whenever their draw length exceeds 22". If you make bows, you should have a kids' bow laying around. You never know who might need it.