old osage?

[TimothyR]

I was walking in a friend's pasture yesterday looking for blackberrys and came across an old Osage tree with a limb broke off. It was suspended in the air by  fence and the tree so it has not been on the ground and it seem like it has been there a while.  I cut it and another one that was still live. Anyway the limbs had ants all over them.  They came out off a hole in the one that was live.  My question is will ants boar into the hart wood.  The Smallwood on the dead on is very chewed up but the Harwood seems good.  I will have pics up tomorrow I need to get the ant off of it before Ibring it home.   The dead limb is aabout 6-8" across.  And 6' long. And its pretty snakey  any avice is appreciated.

[Buckeye Guy]

Yes ants chew up heart wood
 limb that big could be split ,and then just dump the ants out
Hope they don't chew you up to bad!

[osage outlaw]

The last osage tree I cut was full of big black ants.  I busted the log in half and then torched the ants with a can of break cleaner and a lighter.  It worked great.

[Aaron H]

The last osage tree I cut was full of big black ants.  I busted the log in half and then torched the ants with a can of break cleaner and a lighter.  It worked great.

 

[TimothyR]

The last osage tree I cut was full of big black ants.  I busted the log in half and then torched the ants with a can of break cleaner and a lighter.  It worked great.

    I will have to give that a try.

[Pat B]

I don't think the ants eat good, solid wood. They may eat soft pithy wood though. Split the limbs in half and see what's inside.

[Blaflair2]

I've got osage that was laying on the ground for probly 20 yrs. it was still great wood

[TimothyR]

Thanks guys...im going to split them Friday after work and c whats up.  I'll post some pics of both.  The heart wood were I cut looks really good but the sapwood is very wormy looking.  I think its been their for more than 20 years or so. I seem to remember seeing it like that years ago but just now noticed it.  Its amazing what I notice now after I started this whole roller coaster breaking bows thing. Ive only got two good bows out of the many I've made.  I get so frustrated when I break a bow. I almost gave up but my will is stronger than my embarrassment.

[Blaflair2]

If u ain't breaking u ain't making

[toomanyknots]

I've got osage that was laying on the ground for probly 20 yrs. it was still great wood

There was this tree me and a guy cut down with a handsaw last year. It was a weird tree with two trunks, so we cut both of em. For the life of me we couldn't get either of em down with all the vines and branches that were holding em up, and being two trunks made it trickier. I saw it recently and saw that one had finally come down far enough to safely cut the end off, probably about 8'. Do you guys think it would still be ok? This is an area where after a while power post beetles go after everything.

[Blaflair2]

I don't think it'd hurt to try. The sapwood was completely off mine and it was grey on the outside. The wood was deep dark orange. I know ppl that strip the bark off the bottom of trees to kill them then let stand for a couple years. Wah lah seasoned firewood when u cut it. Ppl do this to save space. I understand it's not quite the same. But that wood is probly seasoned and I'd be it's be worth it

[TimothyR]

Here's a couple of pics. I'll post more when I get them split

[Patches]

Wow that has some thick growth rings in it!