Thanks for the pictures Pat. I've been studying them a bit.
Last summer a friend of mine had a job clearing out and replanting a yard in a nice neighborhood in Salt Lake City. He called me and said they were cutting down trees that people told him were rare and valuable. He did not know the name. I showed up and it turned out to be osage. I found out they were planted 90+ years ago for cattle block. I took all the trunks I thought I might be able to use. Got a dozen or so 48" and under staves but the long ones were all so close grain they looked like high altitude valuable yew. Not just that but the grain was also rippled(curly). I did however also get about 10 pole branches that will make great bows like the one you posted. I already split a larger pole and removed the sap sides and it just has a sap back. After looking at your bow I'm inspired to split the smaller ones now.
Oh, now I'm jealous. I live here near SLC, too, and I've only come across a handful of osage trees. I heard the pioneers brought some, and the black locust trees, to grow their own fenceposts, tool handles, and barn beams. I found some in North Ogden where they were developing, but couldn't get permission to cut them. Got a run around over who to ask. Good trees, big old, dark wood, hard, big rings (I could see some cuts and stumps) but growing in the open, so..... billets, not staves. Anyway they took most of them out before I could talk the guy into letting me look closer. I should have sneaked on, but my big chainsaw is awfully loud at night. :-) I managed to grab a few chunks that the workers had cut, but they are only big enough for some accents, arrow footings, or knife handles maybe.
