Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: BowEd on February 28, 2020, 01:19:58 pm
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Since the snow has melted enough Robin and me went out shed hunting on our piece a while ago.While looking I rechecked on an 8 to 10 inch diametered osage I had been eye balling in the past. I cut it/split it and got 4 nice staves from it.Good thing about this time of year a lot of the sap is in the roots yet.
Here's my process:
After some trimming on the band saw I just lean them against a tree.Use a draw knife and a pocket knife and start in the middle of the stave.Pull bark and sapwood off while identifying the ring I want.I clean it up out to a foot from either end both ways.
(https://i.imgur.com/3F4VSDn.jpg)
I then take it inside on my vise and clean up the ends.
(https://i.imgur.com/YAKuURp.jpg)
Shavings and trimmings go into unloader bucket
(https://i.imgur.com/btWn5sG.jpg)
One stave is a natural D/F with a huge knot in the center of stave.Look forward to that one.
(https://i.imgur.com/FFv1RN9.jpg)
Here's the difference in color between freshly cut osage and 3.5 year old osage.
(https://i.imgur.com/VwDwpbb.jpg)
I trim these staves up nicely on the band saw and shellack the ends and backs on all these staves and put them away in my shed.
PS....We found 3 large sheds.
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Those staves look great!! Wish I could find osage like that here in PA. The osage I’ve cut and split has lots of knots and twist. Thanks for sharing and for the photos.
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Those are some nice looking staves Ed. You made that look really easy. I didn’t even break a sweat
Bjrogg
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That fresh color is the stuff of dreams ed!
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Very nice staves! Jawge
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Thanks fellas....I'm glad to see I still have a few nice straighter staves left.In the past I've traded or sold quite a few and always send them the best I got.Kind of wished I would of kept them now but they went to bowyers who don't have osage grow in their area.The tops of tree and limb wood go through the stove in the house.Quite the BTU producing sparkly wood.
White woods are fun too but it's nice to grab a piece of osage now and then.
I kinda wanted to show that a person does'nt need all these fancy rigs etc. on chase rings on these staves.Although the band saw sure makes quick work of trimming compared to the hatchet but the slower you go the less mistakes you make too.
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Thanks fellas....I'm glad to see I still have a few nice straighter staves left.In the past I've traded or sold quite a few and always send them the best I got.Kind of wished I would of kept them now but they went to bowyers who don't have osage grow in their area.The tops of tree and limb wood go through the stove in the house.Quite the BTU producing sparkly wood.
White woods are fun too but it's nice to grab a piece of osage now and then.
I kinda wanted to show that a person does'nt need all these fancy rigs etc. on chase rings on these staves.Although the band saw sure makes quick work of trimming compared to the hatchet but the slower you go the less mistakes you make too.
Osage orange is the hardest wood in North America, it is also has the highest BTU rating of any other wood. It is an interesting tree!
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Those are some fine strait clean staves there Ed makes me feel like getting out the chain saw but no more shop room here nice haul !
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Yes in my opnion it is some of the best bow wood on the planet.People and me have been burning it here for decades upon decades.Because of it's oil content a regular cleaning of your stove pipes makes it safe to burn.It burns extremely hot and will melt sheet metal or even 1/16" thick walled stoves.It holds coals a very long time also.A good 1/4" thick walled stove is the safest to use.
I have no problem with having enough room to store these staves.The more the merrier.When a person gets enough around they can start to be a little picky about what trees to cut down.I generally try to cut trees where there is no wasted staves and ones that have unique natural profiles to them.
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Osage orange is the hardest wood in North America, it is also has the highest BTU rating of any other wood. It is an interesting tree!
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I think snake wood is harder actually
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Good looking staves Ed. Nice job cleaning them up. How about a picture of the sheds you found?
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Good to see your feeling better and how's your wife dong?....and what exactly is it like?
We've put larger sized ones around the guard rail of the front porch.Many more smaller ones in the tractor shed hanging from bale twine.Some larger inside the house too.It's always a competition between Robin and me to see who can find them first....Ha Ha.
She'll get distracted having her camera along taking pictures.That's when I find them.I cover more ground.
(https://i.imgur.com/N4vupwp.jpg)
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love the sign Ed... mine says "Unfinished Chores Ranch"... that is a lot of sheds and some real nice osage.
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Looks good. Hope I can get a few of mine to look that nice!
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love the sign Ed... mine says "Unfinished Chores Ranch"... that is a lot of sheds and some real nice osage.
Well Bob on a farm chores are never done really.Good name for it.
You will Jamesh76.
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Osage orange is the hardest wood in North America, it is also has the highest BTU rating of any other wood.
Mountain Mahogany is harder. Oceanspray, Southwest ironwood. Not sure what else.
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Those are some beautiful staves. I'm glad to hear you are still finding sheds too. I have been completely skunked with my shed hunting this year, but maybe I will find some next week while I am out for turkeys.
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Found a matched pair of mule deer antlers some years back on a skeleton, and a single antler 2 years ago. We have a no go season on shed hunting until May 1, I think, even on private ground, calving season for elk, and they tend to get cantankerous when the calves are small! Nice bunch of staves!
Hawkdancer
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Finding sheds and dead deer can be an up and down thing from year to year,but I know where all my potential bow stave trees are and that never changes.
In fact I've only seen one blow over of an osage.It's a rareity.A real knarly big tree.I used it in my stove.
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It's not a rarity on my place Ed. The bigger osage trees fall over pretty often here. The root system can't support the weight of the tree in the soft soil. Sometimes it's a storm and sometimes they just slowly uproot and fall down the hill. All the trees I've cut in the last 3 or 4 years were all laying down. They have to grow tall to reach the sunlight in the valleys or a tightly packed canopy. I don't think the roots are designed to support that much weight that high up. .
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Good point Clint about the weight and soil,but there are plenty of 40 to 50 foot tall osage here almost 3' across at the trunk.Maybe it's because our soil here is clay a foot down.That stuff is hard and compact.
It's a lot easier getting wood from a blow down then cutting it from standing.
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Osage orange is the hardest wood in North America, it is also has the highest BTU rating of any other wood.
Mountain Mahogany is harder. Oceanspray, Southwest ironwood. Not sure what else.
That may be so but for bow wood that's balanced tension and compression wise it's the best.