It's been a while since I made some wood shavings in attempts to make wood bend. So I am planing my third try at a backed osage bow. The last place I got osage lumber from (****) supplied a piece with a great deal of run off. Where do most of you get your material from? Looking for full length pieces (72"). Probably going to back it with hickory.
Mike Yancy at Pine hollow long bows. He's a sponsor here or you might try KennyM
To eliminate run off, you could use flat sawn Osage. Mike has all kinds of Osage boards, Kenny prolly does too.
Better to work from a full sized stave, then you have control of the runoff. Unless you back it.
Boards are iffy at best.
Most of the osage bows I've made were from boards and I backed'em. Usually with hickory but lately I've used bamboo and love the outcome.
Chris, do you sell osage boards?