Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: wapiti1997 on February 20, 2016, 07:14:17 pm
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I cut this this week, this 6 foot log, 2' thick, was in the middle of the tree.. there's another 10-12' below and some other in the branches..
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee423/joelacefield/archery/0218161328_HDR_zpslerf3oqa.jpg) (http://s1227.photobucket.com/user/joelacefield/media/archery/0218161328_HDR_zpslerf3oqa.jpg.html)
I started removing sapwood and although the pic doesn't show it, it was almost a maroon red color when first exposed. I've never seen an osage look this way when you first hit the heartwood..
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee423/joelacefield/archery/0220161835_zpsf9thkogw.jpg) (http://s1227.photobucket.com/user/joelacefield/media/archery/0220161835_zpsf9thkogw.jpg.html)
I know Clint had mentioned red osage before, but i've only seen it this one time. I think I can get 50 or so staves from this tree...
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*(weeping quietly here in the wood desert i live in.. )
congratulations *(returns to weeping with occasional wail of despair)
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Dang-o-Dang man!!! Thats some sweet lookin stuff.
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Wow Joe looks like you hit red gold, was that a dead standing tree?..........Need any help?
DBar
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It fell during a storm last year, was still alive with some roots still in the ground. Heavy wood too, sap running...
I had a couple neighbor kids flinging arrows today, 12 and 13, figured I'd get them addicted before they get too tainted by girls... Told them I'd help them make their own bows this summer if they wanted..
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Nice find Joe. Make sure you seal those staves really thoroughly. The red stuff I have cut checked badly. Even the sides of the staves developed cracks. It was worse than any osage I have cut. But it sure does make a nice bow.
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Great find Joe 50 staves wow
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That's it, gosh darn it!! >:( I'm moving further south. :laugh:
Let me know if you wanna trade a stave for one of a more inferior northern wood. >:D
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That's some nice looking Kentucky Osage right there
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I love me some red osage! nice looking stuff there Joe. I've found that all of the red osage I've seen has heavier than the standard and like Clint said brittle but it makes great bows.
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That piece yielded 20 staves, some pipe straight and clean, some with knotholes and some slight snakey grain. There is still a bigger dbh 7' piece and a slightly smaller dbh piece.
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how is the ring count? the few pieces of red that I've had were tight ringed and 20, 30, or more rings per inch! made chasing a ring nightmarish!!!
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Nice wood. Not to add insult to injury for those without osage, but here in Kansas the farmers cut the stuff and just pile it up and burn it. Mostly people use it to heat their houses during the winter, because it burns so hot and it is literally everywhere. I guess that is one of the reasons why I started making bows out of it. It seemed a shame not to take advantage of such a plentiful resource.
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I cut two pieces from that tree, the trunk and a piece higher up that was 8" in diameter, the higher piece was red, the lower not so.. interesting.. here is what those two pieces yielded
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee423/joelacefield/archery/0220161835_zpsf9thkogw.jpg) (http://s1227.photobucket.com/user/joelacefield/media/archery/0220161835_zpsf9thkogw.jpg.html)
And here is a comparison
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee423/joelacefield/archery/0223161001_HDR_zpsjcxpnhje.jpg) (http://s1227.photobucket.com/user/joelacefield/media/archery/0223161001_HDR_zpsjcxpnhje.jpg.html)
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*(weeping quietly here in the wood desert i live in.. )
congratulations *(returns to weeping with occasional wail of despair)
It's ok, Paco... We'll get through this together......
BTW, I live in Utah, and I don't starve for wood, so tell me where you are, nad if I come up with any ideas, I'll pass them on.
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So, I'm still scraping bark and sapwood, I have another relatively clean 7' section to cut and am already up to 46 staves from this tree.
Here is a ring shot of one of the upper red staves.
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee423/joelacefield/archery/0228161126_HDR_zpsqioxmir1.jpg) (http://s1227.photobucket.com/user/joelacefield/media/archery/0228161126_HDR_zpsqioxmir1.jpg.html)
And I put the boy to work, gotta earn diaper money....
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee423/joelacefield/archery/0222161602_HDR_zpsrawwqkqp.jpg) (http://s1227.photobucket.com/user/joelacefield/media/archery/0222161602_HDR_zpsrawwqkqp.jpg.html)
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Nice find Joe, way to make the boy earn his keep.
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That is some good looking osage! Nice when you can find a bow wood tree with that kind of yield.
And I love to see the youngster working a drawknife! They just want to do what dad is doing. :)
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I've been holding my tongue, but I have got to brag...it's not red, but the land owner that lets me hunt on his property also has lots of osage. he just cuts it, stacks it, and burns it like the farmers in Kansas. anyway, there's been this stack of osage logs there for as long as I've been hunting his land, and I finally decided to do something with it. split maybe a forth of the stack, and I have over 50 staves! I'm going to be getting rid of a whole bunch of less than ideal wood soon!
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my apology, I just realized I may have hijacked this thread.
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:D Happiness is in having wood, hijacked is better than dead!
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my apology, I just realized I may have hijacked this thread.
Enthusiasm is hard to control ;D ;D ;D
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you said that right! I'd been eyeballing those logs for better than ten years. i'll probably go back when it's dry enough to actually drive down to the pile and get the rest this spring or summer!