Best time to chase rings in osage and black locust

[rapaport]

I am new to osage and black locust. What are your opinions on chasing rings on these two types of wood? When is it best to chase rings? After completely dried or is it easier to chase when still green? Which of the two are easier to chase rings on? Is black locust similar in characteristics to osage when chasing rings? I have a 7" to 8" diameter  6' long straight and no twist osage log from what I can see. I will split in half. Ends are sealed with two thick coats of polyurethane. Im trying tobe very careful and need to  make sure I doing things right. So if u guys could help me out with green vs dry ring chasing for both. Thanks.

[JW_Halverson]

For the most part, getting the bark and sapwood off is best done when the wood is still wet/green.  Once you have a consistent yellow stave of all heartwood, slap something over the wood to seal it.  Cheapo spray shellac in a can, leftover latex paint, a quart bottle of carpenters wood blue, an 8 ft long tub of molten beeswax, whatever you can find.  Put it up where air circulates and it's out of the sun.  Forget it for 2 years!

As for chasing growth rings, I prefer the oldest and most cured out wood I can get my grubby paws on!

[osage outlaw]

I like to rip the bark and sapwood off, seal them, and put them up to season.  When I'm ready to make a bow, I'll even the back up with the drawknife and then rough out the bow on the bandsaw.  Then I'll chase it to the final ring very carefully.  I figure why chase a ring on the entire stave when I can do it on a bow sized piece instead.  After I get the back to a single ring then I'll cut it out to thickness.  That's with osage.  I haven't used BL yet.

[rapaport]

Thanks for the info. I just wasnt sure if green vs seasoned would make a difference in ease of removing down to single ring.  I looked at the cut end and noticed the rings are pretty thin. They look about a millimeter thick and the thicker rings are near the center and looks like not enough wood to make a bow. The diameter of the log is about 7" to 8" .  I hope I can handle the thin rings

[Pat B]

Locust handles similar to osage in workability. I think seasoned wood is easier to chase a ring on but green is better for removing bark and sapwood. Itf your rings are real thin use only a scraper and a good incandescent light source(or the sun) and work it the best you can, paying special attention around knots and pins. I leave an island around them until I get the rest of the back chased, then working from the center out remove these islands down to the back ring. If you happen to go through a ring on the thin ringed stuff just add a rawhide backing and you are good to go. You can do lots of different things with rawhide for decoration or camo.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I peel mine when Im ready to use it. I seal all the ends right away. Ive had green bark come off hard and Ive had seasoned bark come off hard. Not much consistency in that game. Some will check and some wont, bark-on or not. If you can get plenty cut, keep cutting!

[IndianGuy]

"Forget it for 2 years!"..Totally disagree and I have made literally hundreds of osage orange bows. I cut them quarter them and seal the ends with paint.
Usually if split into descent size quarters the wood shoud be ready for bowmaking in 6-8 months, you can reduce the green stave to about a 3\4 finished bow and in about one month if kept say in your house will be dry enough to finish out. Truthfully after you make a few osage bows you will be able to tell very easily if the wood is dry enough or not but two years is not nesscary.


"a quart bottle of carpenters wood blue, an 8 ft long tub of molten beeswax".... I actually laughed out loud at this!!! good one JW 


Eric

[BowEd]

rapaport......starting with a 7 to 8 inch thick log should give you plenty of depth to find a thicker ring.Even quartered.I don't have the log in front of me here though.You'll get er done.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

The BL i cut has nice, 1/2 inch thick growth rings. Not kidding. It is for making arrows. The stuff i (try) to make bows from has growth rings about 3/8th inch.