Mark, I don't normaly heat treat osage either, but one I built yesterday was an absolute dog! heat treating it this morning and it seems to be putting some life back into it. The moisture was a little higher than I thought, normally I dont even check the moisture on osage as my climate seems to agree with it. After I get finished I noticed it was close to 9% which isnt real bad but I prefer osage about 7 1/2. Steve