Osage

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Manny you have a hedgerow planted on the island yet?  I can only imagine the rings on Hawaiian hedge. 

Lennie you got me thinking there,.....I might not ripe the benefits, but it would be cool to have a legacy for starting the "Hawaiian Osage" ....I'm gonna see if I can import some Hedge seeds



......BTW good to see you posting,...show us some bows now 

[Postman]

Osage has certainly put up with a lot of rookie mistakes from me......I think chasing a ring and strength is cancels out the backing process of my whitewood a board bows. Plus, there's nothing like whaling away with a drawknife and then watching that last pass expose "marked treasury bills" as Torges put it.....
But I still think  starting out with A board bow or two is right thing to do to learn the basics.

Good luck with the Osage plantation, Manny! The little archer on your back in the "Little guava" pics could use it someday....

[George Tsoukalas]

Truthfully, whether or not it's a beginners wood depends on where that beginner lives. Osage is too expensive around here in NH, where it doesn't grow, for learning wood. Black locust though is good ring chasing and bow lay out practice wood and is plentiful here. Jawge

[Pappy]

Thats why I started with Hickory,got plenty and no Osage on my farm at all,I have to trade for it,
never bought any ,always have to travel to cut it when I can. I will say if you learn to tiller white wood ,Osage will be much easier most of the time,at least the tillering part.
     Pappy

[Aries]

I learned to make bows on character osage staves, And i had to learn fast lol . My first osage bow shot well but my lack of knowledge led to a string flying off and the bow breaking. An educated beginner bowyer would find osage to be a very educational but challenging experience. I learned to chase a osage ring with a dull draw knife, and to draw patterns by hand following the wavy grain. These methods help you learn faster about what truly makes a bow work instead of just sticking your toe in the water with a board.  Ty