load of fence post

[bradsmith2010]

my friend Randy went to a ranch in New Mexico to get these, they had come from Texas and were to be re used, but were not for some reason,, I thought they looked very old,, as they had been in the ground a long time in Texas, ,then lay on the ground in New Mexico for who knows how long,, I think the wood is well aged,, ,, and hope to see some staves and billets out of those soon,,
what a find,, hope I can buy one,, the trailer is 8 feet

[Pat B]

There is gonna be some great bows with character in that pile of fence posts.    You'll be surprised how hard that wood is. 

[bjrogg]

Nice find. I hope we get to see what those post are turned into. Like Pat said, there's going to be some serious character in those staves.
Bjrogg

[gfugal]

What wood are they?

[osage outlaw]

Those look pretty crispy.  I hope you are able to find some solid wood in there.  If it's checked to bad for bows you can make some cool bow racks out of it.  I used an old black locust fence rail for a bow rack.  I took a draw knife and removed the grey wood until I got to the nice brown color with the black cracks all through it. 

[gfugal]

If those are usable, It makes me wonder if burnt Juniper from a fire could work.

[Hawkdancer]

If it is not too badly burnt, there should be some good wood under the charring.  Depends on how fast the fire went through, and whether or not foam was used.  I think a slow moving fire would leave less good wood behind.  Maybe a lot of nice charcoal, though!
Hawkdancer

[Stoner]

I  picked up some about a year ago in southern Oklahoma. I looked at them for yard art then decided to cut them up for fire wood. when the saw barley cut those son of a guns I realized how solid they where. I have one left and am thinking about trying a bow and if not a bow rack. John

[ohma2]

Brad when you go to work on one ,take us along for the ride.

[BowEd]

Cool.....Like said they can make bows.You got some length to work with and that's good.Longitudal drying cracks to work with.I'm sure in New Mexico they are as dry and hard as you can get.If not a bow they are useful for other projects too.Beautiful wood.You'll need to sharpen your draw knife Brad.They are tougher than all get out.You'll get a good workout.Some people make family name signs out of them too.They'll still last a lifetime for sure.

[RandyN]

Hey Guys...  Thanks Brad for starting this. I am Brad's friend that picked up the wood. Brad is my bow making mentor and my hunting partner. I have been able to try different bow making methods thanks to Brad's assistance.

I unloaded the posts this morning. They are solid, if the weight has anything to do with it.

Most of them are 8 footers with a few shorter. A couple appear to have very straight grain.

Due to the weight of the corner posts, I split one this morning before moving it. I need to learn how to post a picture so i can show you what I found when I split the post.

[osage outlaw]

I'm guessing a golden yellow color hidden inside

[RandyN]

I am having a bit of a problem getting the picture of the split loaded. let's see if this works.

[Pat B]

Looking at the color I'd say that is very old osage. Gonna make some nice bows.   

[bjrogg]

Should be interesting. Make sure you take lots of pictures as you go. I'm with ohma2. I'd like to see the transition from post to bow.
Welcome to pa RandyN
PS that one reminds me of my "Walking Stick" stave. That horizontal limb your probably going to want to get behind and find some nice wood that goes around it.