looking for osage.

[carpenter374]

Hey all. i envy some of y'all that live south of me and have access to river bottoms where osage grows "reasonably" straight. i've been looking for a good stave for about a year. here we have osage but it's mostly not native planted for shelterbelts. the west Ok wind plays a terrible trick on the wood. i've split 4 staves all but one the grain was very twisted. two made a complete 360 in only a few feet. I have one that i may be able to use but it has a natural deflex of about 3/4 inch right above (or below) where the handle would be. have any of you guys used osage with this kind of deflex? any help would be appreciated. i want my next bow to be osage I may even be interested in working out a trade or reasonable purchase for a good stave. my previous experience has been with hickory so i need something without too many knots. thanks.

[koan]

Carpenter, I live in osage country Mo. And I have as yet to find this mythical straight osage. The nature of this tree to grow crazy is what made it such a great natural hedge. Lucky for us a heat gun only cost 15.00 and with it you will find all the straight osage you need. But...if you find some straight stuff let us know and we'll all come runnin with the chainsaws!! ....Brian

[koan]

Oh and if you cant heat the deflex out, deflex the other limb the same then recurve the tips....u wont regret it. Good luck....Brian

[leapingbare]

Hey dude i live in K.S and there is alot of sage here... sometime I'll look at over 30 trees befor i find one to cut, ya gatta watch the bark reading the bark is the key.. i dont have any pics to explanethis but someone might. Get out there in the woods with your chain saw and get you some trees.. look in low areas and in thickits with other trees growing close around them... you got to find Osage thats sheltered from the wind and reaching for sunlight. thats were the strait ones are.. dont just look on the hedge rows.. if you see a old hedge row look for the closest creek and i bet you will find one worth cutting.. man i have had a little to many beers tonight but i hope you can understand me.. Good Luck!

               leapingbare.

[Sidewinder]

leapingbare, I live in Ks as well and I know what you mean about reading the bark. I have a hypothesis that I want tp put forth and when I get out in the spring and start scouting again I aim to see if its right. Here it is: since the prevailing winds in the part of Kansas that I live in, blow from the S-SW and the twist in the wood is usually wind stress induced, then if you found sheltered patches of osage growth that were predominantly protected from the southwide then the straightest stuff should be on the N-NE side of the area.  Another little tidbit of irony is that Kansa was the tribe thats name meant " The People of the South Wind" and the Osage was a nation from a little N-NE of this area.. Just food for thought, and your response?   Danny

[tom sawyer]

Danny that makes a lot of sense.  Even a tree on the dowwind side of a hedgerow might be better if it is protected by some trees upwind.  The best log I've harvested, was growing in some bottom ground in a belt of trees about 30 feet wide.

[Minuteman]

Its the nature of trees to reach for the light as somebody said already. The straight trees are gonna be smaller than the trees around it since it was competing with already established trees that were trying to shade it out. Yeah I'd think stuff in a semi sheltered creek bottom or dense thicket would be more likely to be straight.
 I found a "straight" one one time. It was in a fence row and had fallen into this guys field years before and the guy had just cut it off . New growth was growing up from the chainsawed end.
 I loaded it and injured my back in the process. I was younger and stupider then. I bet it only weighed 450 pounds er so. I put it in the truck by myself though. Couldn't believe how pipe straight it was.  I had the aching back to remind me of that extremely twisted osage log for a good six months.
 I did end up using it for the base of my anvil though.

[GregB]

Be careful trying to heat that much deflex out of the limb so near the stiff handle area. I cracked my copperhead bow that won BOM in April that way. It started out as 1-1/2" wide limbs, and after splitting out the side of the limb while attempting to remove deflex near the handle, I reduced the limb width to 1-1/4" to remove the split. You may be able to remove some of it, but need to have a feel when to stop.

[leapingbare]

   Man i split my big ones in the woods... heh

[Mike W]

Carpenter,
I too live in the south (north Texas) and have yet to find any straight osage. I use a heat gun to get the string down the center of the handle, and usually leave most of the natural bends and curves in the limbs. As a result, none of my bows are what you would call straght, but they shoot well enough for me.

[carpenter374]

ok some of you must think i mean i'm looking for osage as straight as the hickory i've been using:) where i live is literally the windiest place in the world. i have been through hundreds of osage trees here and have found one ok stave. i'll try focusing more in the creek bottoms though that is a good idea. mulberry is another option i'm considering as it seems to grow a little faster and therefore straighter here. thanx to all for the advice and post more for additional if you like.

[tom sawyer]

You been to OJAM?  I'd guess there is some good wood to be had cheap there.  MIght even barter for a piece.  I hope to be able to make it to this festival this year.