Can you recognize snakey osage before you split it?

[FlintWalker]

  I want to make a snakey osage bow so bad I can taste it. Only problem is, I don't have any snakey wood.  I have access to all kinds of osage and was figuring on cutting some in the next week or so.
 Is there any way at all to tell if a tree is snakey before cutting it?  Does anybody have any pictures?  Saw Filer

[richpierce]

The outer bark will often show twists and turns if the wood is snaky, but not always.

[tom sawyer]

The most beautiful snakey stuff I ever saw, looked nice and straight before splitting.

[Dano]

LOL, that's what I was thinking Lennie. I bet somebody out there is willing to trade a nice straight stave for a snaky one.

[tom sawyer]

Dano, the worst of it is that our friend Tony gave the most beautiful snakey stave I ever saw to a kid as a first time project.  Of course we didn't know it at the time, and only saw it after the boy had split it to take home.  I still dream about that piece of wood, and I would really like to contact the lad and see if he still has it.  It reminded me of the bow that Chester Stevenson was photographed with, it was that good.

[Ryano]

It's hard to tell before you split it Shannon. Most of my wood has some snakeyness to it.

[Woodland Roamer]

The best snakey osage I've split so far looked straight but too bad that was several years ago and I ended up ruining several staves from that one. Wish I had it back now. But I was in hunting in Kansas this past Thanksgiving and spent some time looking for osage. Those Kansas hedgerows have some rough, knarly osage. I only found one tree that I wanted and I thought it looked like it would have snakey wood. The bark just wiggled back and forth, it didn't spiral around the tree but just kind of snaked back and forth. That was the first one that I've found like that but I never got a chance to cut it. I know where it is so maybe next time I'll get it and find out if it's wood matches the appearance of the bark.

Alan

[BowKids]

The real question is, how do you go about finding a piece that is not snakey. Hedge trees look like poor genetic mutants compared to all the other stately hardwoods, a landscaper's first target for replacement. I think those 'straight' limbs usually reveal a lot of character inside. Those with good staves did some cutting. I think a larger diameter sample like the main trunk will give you a better choice of heartwood staves than the out of control limbs. I would find someone selling those staves on Ebay and tell them what you need. They probably have a lot of discards.

R

[FlintWalker]

BowKids, here is an example of what i'm talking about, definitely nobody's discard! Crooked is one thing, snakey is another. To get character wood, all one has to do is close their eyes and pick a tree. This stuff is more rare than super straight stuff.

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[Pappy]

Ha I recognizes that one,to tell you the truth some time you can't tell but most of the time I
can by looking at the bark on this one and the twin sisters you could see it in the bark and you are right there is a difference in crooked and snaky,most is crooked so you straighten it out but
snaky is something else al together.I don't know if we have anymore like that in the pile but I will look and see what I might can find.All I can tell for looking to cut your own is look close at the bark
and a lot of times you will see it.You are also right straight Osage is hard to fine but snaky is more rare than straight. Here are a couple of pictures to show what it looks like after the bark was off and the top half before,maybe this will give you and idea what to look for,notice the bark.
     Pappy

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[GregB]

It also seems to me that some of the belly splits we've gotten from staves were more snakey at times then the outer layers. That snakey wood almost always requires some heat treatment to remove propellor, etc.

[Sidewinder]

I've got a couple really nice snakey ones that were harvested in Sept. The growth rings are 1/4" or so and excellent early late ratio. Came from a 16" diameter queen of the woods kind of tree. If you want pics let me know. Email at outstandingautos@hotmail.com

Danny

[FlintWalker]

Yes, I would like to see them, but i'm sure everybody else would too. Don't be shy, post pictures.

[cowboy]

I've cut a few osage trees and the one that come's to mind didn't show any sign of snakyness till I started splitting it into stave's. Kinda goes along with what everyone else has been saying here. Quartering it up the splits went straight and the bark appeared to be straight as an arra, but started noticing the curving back and forth as I worked it into smaller staves.

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[Ryano]

Thats some fine looking wood Paul. Did you ever get that recurve shooting?