Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: IrishJay on January 08, 2019, 06:27:07 pm
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I cut this today, I think it might be an osage sapling. The end grain photo doesn't really capture just how bright yellow this wood is. It had a good number of thorns on it that I broke off so I could carry it home with getting punctured. Each thorn was growing out of a node like the one shown.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h66/jayres83/Bow%20Pics/20190108_193310_zpshys2zixp.jpg) (http://s61.photobucket.com/user/jayres83/media/Bow%20Pics/20190108_193310_zpshys2zixp.jpg.html)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h66/jayres83/Bow%20Pics/Screenshot_20190108-193502_Gallery_zps0g0yxjju.jpg) (http://s61.photobucket.com/user/jayres83/media/Bow%20Pics/Screenshot_20190108-193502_Gallery_zps0g0yxjju.jpg.html)
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Got anymore pics of the bark?
What you described sounds a lot like Osage, but it could still be something else.
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How long are the thorns?
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About a half inch, give or take. I'm trying to get some more photos up, but photobucket isn't cooperating with my uploads atm.
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It doesn't look like an osage sapling. I cut one years ago that was about the same diameter and it was white sapwood and a 1/4" diameter yellow heartwood center. I could be wrong because I've seen very live osage and cut very few.
If it is osage it can make a good bow.
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https://goo.gl/images/HhVqTN
That's from google images for "osage sapling" the bark looks right to me.
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Were the thorns the same?
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Yeah, it's also very dense, just over 1 1/4" on the skinny end, not quite 1 1/2" on the wider end about 7' weighs over 5lbs.
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I'd cut it to 68", seal the ends, bandsaw it down the middle, lengthwise and bind the 2 halves together with spacers between the two to allow air circulation and set is aside for a few months at least. Slide it under your bed and forget it. ;)
I've made a few pole bows this way and was very pleased how they turned out. If you remove the bark be sure to seal the back.
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I was thinking about leaving the handle full thickness and just debarking and roughing the limbs out to about half thickness, then drying.
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(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h66/jayres83/bow%20pics%202/20190108_205406_zpsbvcw6mcd.jpg) (http://s61.photobucket.com/user/jayres83/media/bow%20pics%202/20190108_205406_zpsbvcw6mcd.jpg.html)
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Search - Sonny Iman, Limb Bows ! Bob
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That does not look like osage to me. The bark and end grain look different than the osage that I cut.
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I'm thinking that may be honey locust
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Uncle Bob, I agree. Sonny Iman was the king of limbows. PA did a story about him years ago written by Dade Snodgrass. That is where I first got interested in limbows. I was fortunate to meet Sonny once and on other occasions I saw a few of his bows and got to shoot one.
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I think it is osage, I have seen a lot of variations on saplings as fa as bark appearance goes from one location to another.
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Put some shavings in water and see if they turn the water yellow
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Started debarking, it definitely has the amber/yellow of osage.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h66/jayres83/bow%20pics%202/20190109_154929_zpssz5jebnm.jpg) (http://s61.photobucket.com/user/jayres83/media/bow%20pics%202/20190109_154929_zpssz5jebnm.jpg.html)
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looks like it will make a bow
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I hope so, it's going to be a long couple months waiting for it to dry.
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Try the water test like Aaron suggested.
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Search - Sonny Iman, Limb Bows ! Bob
I have heard reference to this man and his sapling limb bows. I am gravitating more towards sapling bows rather than large split stave bows and would like to see his work but that search turned up nothing for me .
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Shaving are soaking. Its's definitely dense, shavings sank like stones when I dropped them in.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h66/jayres83/bow%20pics%202/20190109_225827_zpsnpl3gkq9.jpg) (http://s61.photobucket.com/user/jayres83/media/bow%20pics%202/20190109_225827_zpsnpl3gkq9.jpg.html)
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It shouldn't be yellow under the bark, you should have a thick white sapwood ring and a little yellow in the middle.
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It would just be the heartwood that stains the water, wouldn't it?
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I did not use heart wood shavings, so maybe that's the problem. Also after some googling mulberry is looking like a possible candidate. Anyone have any experience IDing mulberry?
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Mulberry doesn't have thorns, unless it is a type of mulberry I haven't seen.
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No thorns on mulberry. Will you post pics of the thorns on this wood and maybe the buds on the branch tips?
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I might be able to get pics of the top I left out in the woods this weekend to help with the ID.
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I hope so, it's going to be a long couple months waiting for it to dry.
More than a couple of months ;) ;) ;)
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Osage heartwood will dye the water yellow. Mulberry, black locust and honey locust will not. Black locust will glow under a black light
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I'm going with Aaron on this one. That's locust if I've ever seen it. Wish I could be there cause I can tell osage right away by the smell. Nothing smells like osage.
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This really doesn't have a smell, so it's looking like locust is in the lead. Would the yellow coloration point toward honey locust?
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Whatever it is its junk. I just looked in on it and it has already developed several checks and splits in bad places >:(
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Yeah that can happen. I see people get away with not sealing the backs, but every time I tried it checks developed. So I now seal the ends right after cutting and the backs as soon as I strip the bark. You want the moisture to escape from the sides of a split stave where cracks/checks won't develop.
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just seal it and try it anyway,, Im sure the cracks are running with the grain,,