twisted osage...any hope??

[hedgeapple]

I just split a couple osage logs I harvested from my farm.  One was short 48 inches after I remove the knarly end where the tree had fork.  The other is 66 inches, but has nasty twist about a quarter turn.  Is there any hope of making a bow out of this twisted osage?

[El Destructo]

yep..... split it down to workable Staves....reduce the wood down and then steam the Stave one limb at a time and twist the Limb straight....then do the same to the other side....if you do it while the Staves are still wet....you can use steam and Osage turn to rubber with wet heat....if you are willing to work at it....they can be saved...lets see some pictures of them too...that will help everyone decide the best course of attacking them

[sulphur]

i was told to get a pipe wrench or something to twist the limb with that wont mar the wood.  Hang a five gallon bucket half full of water from the end.  Heat it or steam it and leave the bucket till the water evaporates.  I have since found you really only need to wait an hour or so till the wood cools.  You can definitely straighten that twist.  It will be a good experiece for you.

[DanaM]

I use a form and add reflex and remove twist all at once, did one yesterday that had one limb twisting to
the left and the other limb twisted to the right, took that out and added 3" of reflex Osage is almost to easy to straighten.

[hedgeapple]

Thanks El, DanaM and Sulfur.  I'll try to straight the osage today.  I'm so glad I'll be able to use the wood.  I hate cutting down trees and not being able to use them.  To me, tree are like animals.  I don't harvest them unless I plan to use them.

[El Destructo]

Use a Gas Grill....Heat Gun...or ever the Wife's Stove Top....oil the wood well to control scorching and drying it out.....and when it starts getting too hot to hold on to....it should be ready to bend...and Osage bends like rubber when heated right...it is amazing how plastic it gets....good luck

[sailordad]

i just love heating osage to get twist and bends out,its soooooo much fun

its just cool what you can do to some woods when they hit the right temp

[hedgeapple]

The stave was half of a 6" diameter log.  I attempted to to take a little off the edge to get it to a more bendable size.  I need to learn more about stave splitting and wood grain, I suppose.  The split basically when diagonal across my stave.  This doesn't give me nearly as much "wiggle room" as would have like to have.  Right now, both staves are 1 3/4" from back to belly and 1" wide on the narrow end.  Here's a picture

I know I need to to take more white bark off and get down to the growth ring for the back



[attachment deleted by admin]

[hedgeapple]

Just notice on the second picture I have the twist (in red) going the wrong way.

[richpierce]

I never tried to take the twist out till I had it down to near-bow dimensions.  Could never get the heat to penetrate anything that thick and wide.

[El Destructo]

No....You are Correct Rich....they should be reduced in order to get the Moisture to do it's job properly....

[xin]

 These staves do not have bad twist at all.  I've steam straightened,  as El Destructo noted above, much more twisted staves.  You have nice growth rings with a good ratio of early wood to late wood.  These should lmake good shooters.

[hedgeapple]

That's everyone for you advice and encouragement.  I just love this site.
Dave

[GregB]

Dave, I'd select and chase a grain using a draw knife and scrapper. Then draw you a center line following the linear grain from one end of the stave to the other. This is where the center of the back of your bow will be. Then draw the top view of the bow working off the center line as if the bow were laying on its belly on the ground and you were standing directly above it. Should show the handle, limb width and length, etc.

Work the stave down to the lines and rough in limb thickness on the heavy side. First try to floor tiller the stave to get a little bending in the limbs...then it should be ready to straightness using steam or dry heat. Steam might be the better route with freshly cut osage, but dry heat will work as well.

Sorry if I told you a bunch of stuff you already knew...don't always know one's level of experience.

[Big A]

I agree with Greg. You should be able to straighten both of those. It might take more then one try.
Big A