Salvaging old abandoned osage staves (abandoned in the woods)...? Possible?

[toomanyknots]

...Or rather, probable? I cut some osage last summer, and I had about 5 pieces that I was worried they might have bugs or borers, so I left em in the middle of the woods. Now I am kinda regretting it. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with old weathered osage like I'm talking about. The pieces are split and lying flat on the ground. So I am figuring they are probably rotten and full of every kinda bug in town? I know the heartwood doesn't rot as easy, but it probably has every kinda osage wasp and borer there is?

[gstoneberg]

Osage doesn't rot like white woods do.  However, the wood that lays on the ground may still be quite green.  If you have borers there, the wood will probably have them.  Where I am in Texas it takes awhile for borers to get into the heart wood.  Most stay in the sapwood.  However, my untreated 3 year old wood has some deep ones.  Even so, I have yet to not be able to make a bow out of a piece.  To me, they're an annoyance.  I just go deeper in the heartwood to make bows.  There's no rule the top heartwood ring has to be the bow back.  Lately I've been going down 5-20 rings.  It isn't even any slower for me.  You can hog off extra wood very quickly if it's relatively clear of knots.  I'd bring home every bit you cut, unless it's just too crooked.

George

[toomanyknots]

Thats good to know. It's actually some nice looking wood. It just had some holes in the heartwood I thought. But I was thinking, those might of been the starts of branches too? I don't know, you got me thinkin about going back and seeing how they look.

[Gus]

Yes Sir,

I remember you saying that you had tossed some questionable pieces.
Go back after 'em... questionable or not there is probably some good wood there.
Let us know what you find.



-gus

[mullet]

 I've got one I've been piddlin' and scraping on for 15 years that was a 100 year old fence post. It is black but still good.

[okie64]

It'll be fine. It may have some bug holes in the sapwood and maybe even a few rings down in the heartwood but as long as you can get under those holes it will work fine. When I first started buildin bows I cut some osage and left it in the woods for over a year unsplit. When I went back and got the logs they had lots of borer holes in the sapwood but they hadnt made it to the heartwood yet, I've made a lot of bows from those logs.

[gstoneberg]

Resistance to rot is one of the things that makes osage great fence post material.  Old fence posts may look weathered and ratty on the surface, but underneath there can be gold.  Check out the first few pictures in this build: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,22983.0.html  That bow did fail in tillering from insect damage I didn't catch.  It's the only one I've ever lost to a bug.  You always need to watch for insect damage that goes across the limb.  Those old fence posts are really seasoned though...worth the trouble.

George

[osage outlaw]

Go grab that osage and give it a try.  I found an old log that my brother-in-law cut quite a few years ago laying in a creekbed.  The bark was all gone off of it.  I hauled it out and split it into staves.  There was a small amount of bug damage, but they only went a few rings deep.  That log produced some great staves.

[MWirwicki]

Hey Toomany, what did you say the GPS coordinates were on those "rejects"?

[toomanyknots]

  Well I guess the consensus is to go get em. I guess I don't have a choice now.  I'm hoping the heart wood is good, especially cause they're already quartered. I figure, inspired now from you guys, to go get and leave em out back against the house till I get all the sapwood off. I guess I can hack it off and seal the back, and then chase a ring later.

[SGTKaveman]

Some years ago at MoJam, I met Fred Kasch, who has since passed on.  Fred was a very enjoyable 90+ year old Baptist preacher who told us about putting an Osage corner post into the ground in 1935... and digging it up in (2004?  2005?)  to make bows out of it. Still good.

Osage lasts a long time.

[JW_Halverson]

Some years ago at MoJam, I met Fred Kasch, who has since passed on.  Fred was a very enjoyable 90+ year old Baptist preacher who told us about putting an Osage corner post into the ground in 1935... and digging it up in (2004?  2005?)  to make bows out of it. Still good.

Osage lasts a long time.

That's definitely not a far fetched tale!  Others have posted pics of nearly pre-historic fenceposts made into fine working bows, osage is amazing.  Imagine how long a post and beam construction house would stand if made from decent osage and was well designed and constructed!  I'd give the finger to a Texas Trailer Park Tornado and go back to reading my newspaper if I had a house like that!!!  Imagine the comments....nicely tillered roofline, I like the sinew and snakeskin shingles, is the front door centershot?