Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Dean Marlow on May 23, 2010, 06:11:17 pm
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I cut down a nice Osage tree back in March and started to clean up the staves a little this morning. I have seen red color in Osage before but not as much as these staves got in them. It would have been nice if they had a little wider growth rings but there are some nice chaseable rings on them. They seem to be very heavy compared to other osage staves of the same dimensions. Has anybody ever run across this red colored Osage and was it any good?
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I've read it is suppose to be higher quality, but never seen it myself. Where did you find it and what were the conditions?
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Jeff it was cut in West Central Illinois. I don't know what you mean by conditions. Dean
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Dean, I have seen and used red streaked osage. What I used was excellent. I have heard it can go either way though but I'd bet with the weight you described this is a good one. Denser wood.
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Dean, I have and really like it. It seemed to take less wood to make a realy strong bow.
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Same here. I've used it and it seemed like nice dense wood. Jawge
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Dean- near water, in the middle of a pasture, surrounded by bigger trees, etc. I'm wondering if conditions lead to the red osage or is it another subspecies... From the other comments, sounds like it is probably good. I'm in south Chicagoland if you need some help verifying the quality ;) ;D
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I have a red streaked bow thats a dog. A friend made for me. 55lbs and about 4" of natural deflex. I always thought it was the deflex that made it a dog, but now starting to wonder. I bet it don't shoot 145fps with 10gpp arrow.
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I've always heard the darker the better but I haven't worked with it enough to really know. I believe the early, late wood ratio in a stave is the most important. The Osage I've been working with lately cut away from the creeks and river banks seems much better.
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I like the dark Osage,if the ratio is good,that is pretty good looking wood but the ratio I don't like to much,it should be fine for a 50 lb. bow. The winter growth is just a little thick for my liking. :) The darker dose seem to be more dense than the lighter color. :)
Pappy
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The only red-streaked osage stave I've used made an excellent bow.
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I'm with Pappy on this one
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Whats wild about this stave is one end, looks to have real good ratios and other now.
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You are right,I didn't notice that. :)
Pappy
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It seems like the growth rings are always wider down towards the butt of the tree . I will just have to make a bow out of one of these one day and see if it is any good.
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some of the red osage is just from concetrated orange in the wood,, other is the first sign of starting to rot,,that type is not good mike
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Mike, I had a bamboo backed osage bow that had read streaks running through the board. It blew up like a bomb. Must have been the rotten stage?
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If osage is like any other hardwood tree...the mineral content in the ground has a huge effect on the color of the wood. All the red osage I've ever dealt with seemed denser. But denser is only better if it's also stiffer.
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Some of the best bows I've seen made of osage were colored like that. It seems to be more dense and is waxy and heat bends better than regular yellow osage.
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I worked a bow last year with a red ring near the top, i was going to use the ring but I noticed it seemed brittle and crumbled under the dry knife so i removed it. I think it could go either way. Steve
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hey folks,
i have run into some of what you all are talking about. it was rather hard for me to determine if it was natural or a part of the osage that was beginning to deterioate(?) and rot. i did not trust it. might have been a terrible mistake on my part. perhaps, someone might have thought the same thing.
Luke