Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bubba pharris on February 20, 2010, 08:40:38 pm
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whats the positive and negitives is one better over the other
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In Florida, I like Osage. I've hunted with a 68# hickory bow in the mornings here and by 10AM, with the humidity climbing towards 85% felt it turn to a noodle with no cast. And then it will take an hour or two for it to relax or recover sitting in the sun. I like hickory for BBQ.
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Hickory works great here in the Desert Southwest...no problems with Humidty here.........
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Even with sealant? ???
Asking because I know humidity living in New England. :-\
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I have limited experience, but think I've read hickory is harder to get dry and keep dry in the bow building process for a beginner, especially without a hot box or in humid places like New England. (But that is what the native Americans used a lot up there, and northern guys on here make beautiful hard hitters with it, too.)
New England or not, though, Osage is wicked awesome! ;D I've used it because it is common here in NW Virginia and easy to get
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Getting the popcorn ready. :-X ;)
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I don't think riarcher is trying to start a fuss, I asked a few as a newbie and unwittingly did so...:o
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Sorry if I came off like he was, didn't mean it that way. I just remember "The white wood wars" from years past, and the differences in opinions,(one verses the other). It was interesting. ;D Figured it might be DE-ja-voooooo. ;)
They are both good woods,use what is in your area, or what you can get your hands on.
(I prefer yeller wood) ;D
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i like hickory backed osage... ;D
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i live in mn
we go from one extreme to the other with humidty
spring and part of summer cane be very moist
winter and part of summer can be very very dry
i work on hickory in the winter months,well i did before i started knapping
i still work hickory in the winter,wheni am making bows.i have one all but finished up right now
got a nice piece of hedge waiting for summer,only cause it can take the humidity better
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i have plenty of both....still new to this tho i have made a couple of hickory bows and a couple out of oak...just went and cut some osage today,split it and put up to dry
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I like them both actually. Hickory is difficult to use in a high humidity environment but it is practically indestructible. Take off the bark and make a bow. Osage is a great bow wood. I can't think of any disadvantages except it needs a heartwood back which may be an issue for the beginner. Availability is also an issue. Using indigenous woods is pretty neat. Jawge
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Don't get me wrong, My very first hard shooting, go to, hunting bow was Hickory. And Chad is still hunting with it in Ft. Meyers, Fl. But at 8AM and you can see moisture
rising in the swamps or Cypress Bayheads in little swirling tornadoes, 85dgs, and you have your shirt stuck to your back, I'll go with the yella wood. And I saw a TV commercial with a cowboy dressed in yella that will back me up ;D ;)
But, I think my new swamp wood might be Ipe. >:D
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Osage is better..... ;D Still..... :D
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^^ ..somehow i KNEW you'd say that Ryan. ;D
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No betters, just different. If you are where it is humid, you need to seal hickory really good and have a hot box to put it in to dry it between hunting trips. I think they are both great woods. If you are on a budget, hickory is absolutely the way to go. I don't think you will be unhappy with either.
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osage is better than nothing ;D "joking :D" Between the two I would take the osage.
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I love osage and it tolerates me! ;) Hickory is a favorite also but I love osage. :-*
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I build a lot of white wood bows, but given a choice, I'll take osage any day.
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I build a lot of white wood bows, but given a choice, I'll take osage any day.
X2
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For my climate I prefr osage, if I lived in a different dryer climate I would prefer the hickory. My osage puts on weight when it gets dry and I have broken a few that were tillered out in a higher humidity. Maple has become one of my favorites seems to tolerate a bit higher moisture than hickory, We average around 65% humidity in my area and I don't care for giving wood special treatment hot boxes etc so try to stick to woods that behave well for me here. Steve
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It's all about location and the particular piece of wood from my perspective.
I've seen what bows of both woods do in both extremes, and in a bone dry environment I've seen the finest osage bows blow when the hickory bows were lighting it up, and I've taken my fastest hickory bows to mojam, and I gave them away when they lost every bit of speed I toiled to get out of them and the osage bows don't feel it a bit. Made an osage backed osage English longbow recently ;D. Osage works great glued to itself and I highly recommend it, plus it allows for a lot of creativity since it bends so easily when heated.
So I love both of them the same since where I live I can get both weather extremes within a few hours..The hottest place ever recorded in North America was in the local harbor of 139 degrees..It was a dry heat... ;) Only a few bow woods can handle this, Hickory is one of them..
Rich-no agenda
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I don't think riarcher is trying to start a fuss, I asked a few as a newbie and unwittingly did so...:o
Absolutely NOT trying to start a fuss.
I'd like to try my hand at a bow later. Some hickory around, not much for Osage though.
I've been eyeing maple because it's everywhere (like oak).
Learning is all. Sorry if it sounded different.
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Bubba if you have acess to osage use it, I'm guessing alabama is fairly humid so its a good choice but I wouldn't shy away from hickory either,
If you have some osage cut and split, I would get the sapwood off of a few staves and seal the back and ends good with shellac,
put em up to start drying, I think osage does better if it dries naturally for a while as opposed to force drying it. One other thing is
you need to pay attention to the grain on osage when laying out the bow, violate the grain to much and it will break.
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Why I get a warm fuzzy feeling anytime I get wood that will make a bow. Ash, Elm, Oak, Maple, Hophornbeam, Pecan, Osage, Persimmon, Red Mulberry, etc... I haven't used Hickory yet, although technically, Pecan is in the Hickory family. Get some wood man, and just do it. Be warned though that it is like Cashews, one is never enough. ;D
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i like osage , i think cause i live in oklahoma and thats thick as ticks down here, plus we have 100 % days down here. hickory is good just not my choice. and mullet it is good on a big ol steak.
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Osage can take humid conditions much better than Hickory,due to it's oil content.I have osage bows,(bowfishing outfits), that have literally been braced,and used all day, in the rain, that suffered very little.One in particular has taken large game,small game and hundreds of tilapia over the last 10 years,not to mention practice shots,that has literally hundreds of thousands of shots through it.I live in east Texas and it's humid here,so,when hunting with hickory,or any whitewood bow,I'm simply more considerate of the weather.I don't use the whitewoods when humidity is questionable.That's the osage's day. ;) Just build you a few of each,then you'll have it covered. ;D Good huntin', and God Bless
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I live in a very dry clmate, so both are good for me. Funny thng... hickory backed osage is my favourite wood combo, but if I had to choose, it'd be osage all the way. It's such a tough material.
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YOU GUYS ARE BORING! Osage sucks and hickory is wicked awesome! :) Jawge
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The magic is not in the wood but is cradled in the arms of the bowyer. :) Jawge
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The magic is not in the wood but is cradled in the arms of the bowyer. :) Jawge
very very true ;)
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YOU GUYS ARE BORING! Osage sucks and hickory is wicked awesome! Smiley Jawge
Feeling a bit "spunky" there Jawge? ;D Hernia hasn't taken anything outa you I see, ;)
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I'm like everybody else, either one will make a fine bow, but I'll take osage here in the land of wring-water-out-of-the-air-with-your-bare-hands. If you can keep the hickory dry, it's great. But even with a good finish, it'll eventually reach an equilibrium with the local humidity. If your house is centrally heated and cooled, it'll help to keep wood pretty dry. One thing I've noticed is that even though we have hickory growing everywhere here, most of the local Indians greatly preferred locust for their bows. I would say that the main reason is that locust is an oily heartwood very similar to osage in it's ability to not pick up a lot of moisture in a humid environment.
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Doing ok, Timo. Just tired. No pain. I was depending on y'all to energize me but...:) Jawge
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I find there is not enough work involved with Hickory. Just removing the bark stinks, no sapwood to remove or rings to chase, feel almost guilty everytime I use it. Been feeling guilty a lot lately. ;D
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Absolutely NOT trying to start a fuss.
I'd like to try my hand at a bow later. Some hickory around, not much for Osage though.
I've been eyeing maple because it's everywhere (like oak).
Learning is all. Sorry if it sounded different.
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I know Riarcher, it didn't sound different, just tryin' to help. You should have plenty of locust up there too, and people usually don't mind it being cut compared to hick.
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If you live where it rains more than twice a summer, its going to be Osage all the way. ::)
Their really not even comparable in my book. :)
The only thing hickory is good for here is backing strips for other types of wood, that and smoking chickens..... ;D
I'll take numerous other white woods over hickory for self bows, like good hard maple, elm, hawthorne, and hophornbeam just to name a few. ;)
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One whitewood I like and moisture really doesn't seem to effect it is Vine Maple.
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Yes, Ryan, but if you lived in the desert you'd be using hickory. Pretty humid here in the summer and hickory does become a bit limp. I like osage too. There are not any disadvantages to it really except it is can be tough to work and crooked as all get out. It's great if you like heating and beating wood into submission which I do not. But still osage can be magical to work. Hickory...poof. it's a bow. The last osage bow I made I could have made 5 hickories. BL, the oaks, HH and others are not as moisture sensitive as hickory. Much depends on environment and wood availability. Osage doesn't grow on trees around here. Best thing for the newb is to make his/her own decision. So, Postman, no one thinks you are trying to start anything. In fact, you are being very respectful. You are doing the right thing. Try them both and make up your mind. All wood is good. Never met a stave I didn't like. Time for a nap. :) Jawge
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The best bow wood is the next piece I get my bloody hands on!
But then I live where there is such low humidity that the County Extension agent here sent in a rain sample last summer that tested out at only 14% moisture!
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JW....You sure that You ain't describing the Texas Panhandle....... ;D