Dense, or resinous, Osage?

[Azmdted]

Hi,

I’m working on my third Osage bow. I got the stave off eBay and don’t know how old it is, but the outter word was dark brown, and after shaving it the exposed wood is mid yellow, not the bright yellow I’ve seen before. The rings are 12/inch and I was pretty happy to chase it down to a ring with no violations. Had to put the draw knife away and used a Bowie knife, but it worked great.

This is a very dense wood, and almost appears to be impregnated with resin.  Not sticky or wet or anything, I just get the sense that the wood is harder than the others I’ve done, and some areas have a discoloration to it.  Does some Osage have a slicker wood than others?  I’ve seen other threads about the effect of ring count on performance and density and opinions seem to be all over the map. 

I’m assuming for now I have a well aged stave, and the higher ring count is contributing to denser wood which I haven’t run into before. I’m expecting that if I do my job this stave has great potential. I’m curious about your experience with slick, or maybe resinous Osage. I’m assuming that if these areas behave differently I just need to tiller for their needs and perhaps not a continuous taper.

The photo still has the rasp marks.

Thanks all.

[bradsmith2010]

looks like a nice piece of osage,,

[Hamish]

Yep, looks really good. Dense summer wood.

[Azmdted]

Thanks guys,

That’s what I was thinking, just needed confirmation.

ted

[sleek]

Wood like that is a pleasure to work. Gota pic of your knife?

[Eric Krewson]

The color isn't from ageing as much as being what I call red osage, dark through and through even right off the stump. This is oily stuff but makes a good bow.

[Azmdted]

Wood like that is a pleasure to work. Gota pic of your knife?

I've tried for 30 minutes to get a photo size small enough to post, I give up.  It's a Mossy Oak, 14" overall, full tang, 8.75" blade.  I got it at Walmart to split cedar for making atlatls.  It's very solid and I've found it makes a great scraper, and has just enough curve in the blade to cover most dips in the back as well.  I used my draw knife to get it down and then in the last six inches I violated a ring.  That's when I used the knife to get me down to the next ring safely.  Combination of scraping and using the blade much like the drawknife, just with more control. 

[Azmdted]

The color isn't from ageing as much as being what I call red osage, dark through and through even right off the stump. This is oily stuff but makes a good bow.

Thanks Eric,

That sounds like what this is, glad to hear it's good bow material. 

Ted