how to care for osage

[dave young]

I may have a chance to cut a couple of pieces of Osage in the near future, how should I take care of it once it is cut? Should it be debarked? Split into quarters? Sap wood removed? What is the best way to remove the sap wood? I have only made a half dozen hickory bows from lumber so this will be new to me. Thanks.

[Pappy]

If I were only cutting a little I would  split it,strip the bark and sap wood,seal the ends and the back with some kind of good sealer,I use cheap wood glue but poly or most any sealer will work. Be sure to get it down to yellow wood if you decide to thake the bark/sap wood off.Leave it a year in a dry place and go for it. O ya I use a draw knife to remove the bark and sap wood.
 Pappy

[osage outlaw]

Seal the ends as soon as you cut it.  I seal the ends 3 or 4 times with poly, shellac, or wood glue.  Other stuff can be used as well.  I like to split the log in half and leave it for a while.  When I get time I'll split it into staves and remove the bark and sapwood on them.  Some guys leave the bark and sapwood on the stave until it is dry and they are ready to use it.  If you take it off, seal the backs just like you did the ends with several coats.  Try to keep the staves out of the sun or heat.  It will make them check faster.  If you leave the bark on it would be a good idea to spray them with a bug killer.  Borers always seem to find osage. 

Check the tree out good before cutting.  Study the bark for any signs of twist.  If you want thicker rings look for trees with younger looking bark.  Second growth from stumps or fallen trees usually has thick rings.  Trees growing near a water source often have thick rings also.  Fallen trees are still usable most of the time.  Look for dead standing trees that look ancient.  They are some hidden gems similar to old fence posts.

Please post some pictures of your harvest and good luck

[blackhawk]

Your going to get about ten+ different answers on how to do it,n none of em will be wrong....lots of ways to skin this cat....since I'm in no need or hurry for dry/seasoned wood I just half it,or reduce to quarters if I can't move the halves cus its from a big tree and I'll let em set for a year before even thinking of further splitting em out....and I leave the bark on and seal the ends with shellac...this is the most stable way to do it...you'll have way less problems occurring like warp,twist etc...the slower the moisture leaves the better IMO(to a certain degree of course) ...and I believe its for this very reason why the old timers let em sit for so long...

[Dances with squirrels]

Leaving bark and sapwood on is fine IF they're not dried too fast by any means.... heat, low humidity, air movement, etc. I've seen many osage stave-splits with deep checks in the sides that made them worthless. I've stored them both ways... with bark and sapwood, and without. Ya just gotta be mindful of the environment they're in... moreso if they're still bigger and wearing bark and sapwood.

[Eric Krewson]

Not trying to be ugly but this question or other similar wood cutting questions are asked  several times a week here. Why not make a sticky "how to" thread on cutting, sealing and drying bow staves both osage and white wood. The people asking the question don't use the search feature to find their answer.

[mullet]

Eric, after awhile we get so many Stickeys up top there is not a lot of room for posts. I'm not sure if the people asking and not using the Search would see the Stickey either.

[dave young]

Thanks for the info, I have several books but wanted to see if there were any updated ways of doing things. Search feature must be broke, looked through 4 pages of post this morning and nothing on it.

[DarkSoul]

Google works better than the search function on this site.
Incorporate the term 'primitivearcher' in your Google search will help: https://www.google.com/#q=site:www.primitivearcher.com+osage+seasoning+sapwood+bark+drying

I agree that this question is asked over and over again, at least once a week. Yes, you can ask it again, but the people that have answered this question in the past, will feel less likely to respond again. You WILL be able to find more information from previous topics on this subject, as opposed to starting a new topic. So much has already been said about it. Drying osage today isn't anything different from drying osage ten or even a hundred years ago.