Osage worm holes

[TRACY]

Try a dutchman's plug like RP and Pappy said. Massey refers to them in his books more for knots but it would work for wood wasp grub holes also and then back it. I try to go below the damage if this happens and pick a ring from there. Need to do what Pat said and kill the grubs that are alive, they'll continue to munch on the heartwood or sapwood( they aren't picky) if left alone. Good luck.

[GregB]

Already a lot of good advice! I think I'd try a combination of things to get some bows out of your collection. How much of this wood are you talking about?

If possible try to lay the bow out with the worm holes in a mostly nonbending section like the handle or upper fades. You might try sorting through the wood and cutting some of your staves into billets where half of a stave may be free of holes. Combine two good billets with a splice in the handle when laying out your bow.

We have like Pappy said filled holes with sawdust and glue with good results. Can wrap the area also with sinew as further protection. Also can sinew the back of the bow or rawhide in combination with filling the holes with glue/sawdust. This should keep a splinter from lifting up at the hole.

[salad days]

I ended up with a decent but smallish belly split with no holes and the rest I got the heck out of my garage just in case any bugs where still in there. I was really worried about infesting my other wood with these critters. Also sprayed some pesticide on my other staves which I hate to do but  I don't have alot of wood and don't want to loose any of it.

[cowboy]

I've had such terrible luck with bugs in my whitewood staves that pesticide has become standard. Don't know how many I've peeled and sealed right away just to come back later and find holes . Osage hasn't seemed to matter as long as ya get the bark and sapwood of in a descent amount of time. 

[Papa Matt]

Killer advice and much appreciated, brothers!

Greg, I made a small haul the other weekend and came out with 11 staves- but how many I will actually be able to get a bow from is another question. I peeled and sealed about 6, and by then my hands were starting to cramp up on me, from all the lifting, chain-sawing, splitting, drawknifing, besides all the other physical work I had done on Sat and Sun. I couldn't do anymore so I just sealed the ends on the other smaller pieces and hope for the best. It's not that I couldn't afford to toss one or two into the fire, but this is osage, who wants to do that??? Plus the worm holes are in the longes and prettiest staves.

I'm gonna go down as far a ring as I can, and shorten as far as I can, and if the hole is still there, I'll fill with glue and sawdust and then wrap tight with sinew. I'm really not looking to back any of it.

~~Papa Matt

[Gordon]

I made a very servicable osage bow from a stave that had many worm holes. I chased a ring below much of the damage and filled the remaining holes with a mixture of sawdust and superglue and then backed it with rawhide. Last I heard, it's still holding together nicely.