Author Topic: Reading osage bark  (Read 11757 times)

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Offline Aaron H

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #15 on: December 23, 2014, 01:05:10 pm »
Great info here Clint, thank you for posting this.

Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #16 on: December 23, 2014, 01:54:41 pm »
That is some great info Clint. Thanks for taking the time to share it.
"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline rps3

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #17 on: December 24, 2014, 12:11:59 am »
Very educational. I cant wait to see what that snakey looking one turns out.

Offline Sidewinder

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #18 on: December 24, 2014, 10:30:24 am »
Great info Clint. I too have an abundance of osage around but for the guys that either don't or don't know what to look for this is invaluable info. I am highly intriqued by the snakey one. Can't wait to see what it produces.

I was recently walking some creek bottoms with a guy that has some land and found one that was so straight it looks like a telephone pole. Seriously. It was second growth and propped up by two older ash trees. If it weren't such a pain in the rear to re figure out how to post pics I would post it.

Danny
"You know a tree by the fruit it bears"   God

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #19 on: December 24, 2014, 11:06:22 am »
If you text or email me the picture I'll post it for you
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #20 on: December 24, 2014, 12:17:13 pm »
Here is Sidewinders tree.  It looks like it will yield some very nice staves.  The bark looks like it is running straight.  To me the bark on this tree looks young.  I would bet it has some thick rings. 

I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline PaulN/KS

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #21 on: December 24, 2014, 01:37:57 pm »
Oh My!!! That is a nice looking tree. And it appears to be gift wrapped too...  :laugh:

Offline chamookman

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #22 on: December 25, 2014, 05:45:03 am »
Wow ! I don't think I've ever seen one that straight. Bob
"May the Gods give Us the strength to draw the string to the cheek, the arrow to the barb and loose the flying shaft, so long as life may last." Saxon Pope - 1923.

Offline Springbuck

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #23 on: December 25, 2014, 11:50:03 am »
Thanks for posting interesting stuff.
The bad thing is I CANNOT FIND OSAGE TREES HERE IN GERMANY :-\

Hey, don't feel bad, I can't get it in Utah, either.  I've seen some, but it was huge, growing in a park in the next big town, and so, unaccessible.

Offline Sidewinder

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #24 on: December 25, 2014, 12:29:45 pm »
It would probably make some of you guys sick if you knew how much of it we burn for heat.Lots of BTU's.  None of it bow stave material though, not at least at my house or those of my friends that know what I look for. It is also an excellent wood for cooking over the fire and smoking meat. Has a very nice aroma and flavor. One of my favorite combos is Osage orange and mulberry. Very tasty indeed.

Most people around here call it hedge. Oklahoma they call it Bodark. Its mostly knarly
"You know a tree by the fruit it bears"   God

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #25 on: December 25, 2014, 12:36:53 pm »
Very true Sidewinder.  Hedge fire wood heated our house for 20 years when I was young.  Hard telling how many bows Dad sent up the chimney.  It sure likes to crackle and pop.  It was like a mini fireworks display in our living room sometimes when he was stoking the fire.   
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #26 on: December 25, 2014, 03:30:40 pm »
Here is some pictures of second growth osage.  Often when a tree is cut down or falls over new growth sprouts up from the stump or trunk.  The second growth usually has thick rings.






This is what I call young looking bark.  Trees that look like this usually have average to thick rings.








This is what I call old bark.  These trees are slow growing and usually have the darker orange colored wood and very thin rings.  One thing I noticed is instead of long vertical runs of bark with deep grooves like the trees above, the bark on these trees are flatter and broken into segments a couple inches long.











I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline H Rhodes

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #27 on: December 25, 2014, 03:36:04 pm »
This is really good information Clint.  I wish that I could have seen something like this years ago when I first started cutting osage. 
Howard
Gautier, Mississippi

Offline Sidewinder

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #28 on: December 26, 2014, 12:07:11 am »
Clint   
We have an outdoor wood furnace that heats water thats pumped into the house and a heat exchanger hooked up to a force air system. This has eliminated the draw back of popping hedge and creosote build up.
Have you noticed a difference in the bark pattern on male vs female trees? I too have seen the different barks you are showing but have not understood the differences. I've also wondered if maybe it was an environmental thing or a subspecies. Have you seen the thornless ones. They are few and far between but they are out there. I wonder if their bark looks any different. I am going to pay more attention after this topic. Its stimulated my curiousity.
"You know a tree by the fruit it bears"   God

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Reading osage bark
« Reply #29 on: December 26, 2014, 12:53:41 am »
I've never paid much attention to male or female or looked for a thornless tree.  It seems like the trees on my place are divided in different areas.  Most of the trees with the older looking bark are in one valley. 

There are osage trees growing in the valley where I work and they are the short scrubby variety.  I've looked at quite a few and haven't seen a single tree that would be good for bows.   Its strange how much of a difference there is between osage trees from different areas. 
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left