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Offline luke the drifter

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osage sapwood(?) backing
« on: May 14, 2011, 06:34:29 pm »
i am going to try my hand at leaving the sapwood on an osage stave as its backing.  has anyone had any luck at doing this?  any advice would be helpful.
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Offline HickoryBill

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2011, 06:40:55 pm »
What draw weight are you looking to get? I've done it with a few light weight kids bows. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work with heavier weight bow, say anything over 30 pounds. I'm not trying to discourage you but.......
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Offline RyanY

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2011, 07:05:07 pm »
I've seen a couple osage warbows with the sapwood left on. Should work fine.
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Offline Pat B

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2011, 08:02:15 pm »
As long as you know the sapwood is sound it should be OK. I personally wouldn't trust it if I wasn't sure how the stave was taken care of from the stump but I have used osage sapwood with quite a few bows.
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Offline Cameroo

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2011, 08:43:45 pm »
I don't remember who said it, but I remember reading someone cursing osage sapwood in TBB, saying it's pretty useless as a bow wood.

I have no experience with osage though.
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Offline SEMO_HUNTER

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2011, 09:20:33 pm »
I've never tried it because everytime I left it on one of my staves it split lengthwise even though it was sealed. So I guess the question would be how do you dry it without it splitting? Plus, there being so much beautiful yellar wood underneath, why would ya want to leave that plain looking old sapwood on there anyway?  ::) ;D
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Offline toomanyknots

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2011, 09:34:06 pm »
"I've done it with a few light weight kids bows. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work with heavier weight bow, say anything over 30 pounds."

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/41312/Osage-heavy-bow

"I've never tried it because everytime I left it on one of my staves it split lengthwise even though it was sealed."

Come on now guys, you guys are scaring the crap outta me, I just cut some osage for a guy on here and just debarked and sealed over the sapwood. Is it really that common for it to check? I got em in a cool room with a window down that hardly gets any "traffic" in my house, sealed the backs with glue. I live in ohio, it doesn't get horribly dry out here like it does out west?... 

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 the upper part is pressed down,
 the lower part is raised up,
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Offline Timo

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2011, 09:38:20 pm »
I've made several sapwood Osage bows, with no ill effects. All I have made have been from wood I cut and care for myself.

The best way I have found is to cut the wood in summer,peel the bark like a hickory, let the surface moisture dry and then seal it with a minimum of 6 coats of shellac, especially the ends. store it out of the heat but not in the air cond. It needs to dry very slow.
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Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2011, 09:44:33 pm »
I've made lots of BL sapling bows and 1 osage bow that had a sapwood back. But it was never by choice. I did it because the sapling didn't have enough heartwood. Remember that sapwood in a tree becomes heartwood eventually. Heartwood is stronger. I remove the sapwood from BL and osage when I can. Your choice. Jawge
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Offline SEMO_HUNTER

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2011, 10:00:42 pm »
Quote from: toomanyknots on May 14, 2011, 09:34:06 pm
"I've done it with a few light weight kids bows. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work with heavier weight bow, say anything over 30 pounds."

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/41312/Osage-heavy-bow

"I've never tried it because everytime I left it on one of my staves it split lengthwise even though it was sealed."

Come on now guys, you guys are scaring the crap outta me, I just cut some osage for a guy on here and just debarked and sealed over the sapwood. Is it really that common for it to check? I got em in a cool room with a window down that hardly gets any "traffic" in my house, sealed the backs with glue. I live in ohio, it doesn't get horribly dry out here like it does out west?... 


Sorry man, didn't mean to scare ya but honestly I've only had 1 or 2 that didn't split through the sapwood and into the heartwood first couple of rings on me. From that moment forward I always either left the bark on until I was ready to work on it, or peel the bark and sapwood at the same time and sealed.
But then I never put 6 coats of shellac on them either, just a couple coats of Spar urethane on the back and ends.

Osage is the worst about checking on ya, I've had it check on me overnight because I got lazy and didn't want to finish the job and I paid for it later. Ended up creating more work for myself and about 3 good rings lost because I got lazy. It will dry fairly good with the bark and sapwood left on, but once the bark comes off I get the sapwood off at the same time, same day and seal the back.
Problem with leaving the bark on though is worms, the bugs lay eggs in the bark and over time when they hatch out the worms eat their way into the heartwood. My success rate for leaving staves with the bark on to season and having worms or not having worms in the wood is only about 50/50.

That's just my honest personal experience with Osage and I've dropped a bunch of it. Sold a bunch of it over on Trad Gang where I'm a sponsor. I learned the hard way from trial and error, so you can take from this advice what you want and I wish you luck whatever you decide to do.
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Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2011, 10:07:27 pm »
I forgot to mention that the closer you can get to the heartwood the stronger the sapwood will be. Jwge
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Offline SEMO_HUNTER

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Re: osage sapwood(?) backing
« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2011, 10:15:25 pm »
If you can get it dried out with the sapwood on it without the splitting, it does get hard as heck!
I've had to take some off with my hand axe before because it had been on there so long it was like armor!
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~Varitas Vos Liberabit~ John 8:32
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