Osage the wood that keeps on giving !

[Danzn Bar]

Yeah...we have Michael Jordon for basketball, Wayne Gresky for hockey, Jack Nickolas for golf, Babe Ruth for Baseball and Osage Orange for selfbows.......need we say more.
DBar

[PatM]

Yeah...we have Michael Jordon for basketball, Wayne Gresky for hockey, Jack Nickolas for golf, Babe Ruth for Baseball and Osage Orange for selfbows.......need we say more.
DBar

       
   Lance Armstrong was like heat treated Elm for cycling.

[bjrogg]

I'm just starting to work with the yellow wood. I got a log from my cousin last year. I split it into four staves and removed the Bark and sap wood. The staves twisted and became anything but straight. I roughed one out kinda close and did a little straightening on it and then put them both in the corner. About a week ago I started working on the roughed out one. I chased a ring and my brother asked me is that wood really that color?  I told him yes, it's Osage. They say it's King. He looked at the twisted crooked stave and said looks like firewood to me. I got the stave roughed out closer and put a d profile on the tips for steaming in static recurves. I had my aluminum foil directing the steam up the limb. When it was ready I had my brother help me clamp it to the caul. It was definitely going to be a two person job. Now I'm used to HHB so this was a very pleasant surprise. This osage Bent like a piece of copper wire I was amazed. I let it on the caul for several hours. I stared removing clamps and was again amazed as it stayed right tight to the caul. My brother was even more surprised. I worked on the second stave useing the same process and again the same results. I can't say what these staves will turn into but I don't think it'll be firewood. Compared to working with HHB this stuff is a dream. I made another caul that's 48" long and doesn't have tips bend just a inch of reflex put both of the staves on it. I like the unbraced profile. No wonky kinky starting profile like my HHB staves. It's been a interesting change up and I'm getting anxious to see what else I can learn from the wood that keeps giving.
Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Here's the second stave on the new caul. I should have taken before and after pictures
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Looks like the start of pretty good bow BJ.
Osage has had many things said about it and compared to it.Part of its' reputation I guess.That staying after heat corrections is one of them.I've always nick named that it bends like rerod.

[Stick Bender]

BJ I really enjoyed your post with the osage suprise let us know how that one goes when I first came around I stared at a wavy stave for 6 months figuring it would be dificult to straiten & my suprise was like yours  Upstate calls it Play doe !

[George Tsoukalas]

I've never had  bow gain weight but I use my moisture meter right up to the first stringing. Jawge

[DC]

I wonder if the volatile oils and turpentine like stuff takes years to work their way out of the resins. Especially in Osage as it's so resiny. That would very slowly harden the resins and possibly lead to increase compression resistance. I know a lump of pine pitch takes forever to harden, especially if you're waiting for it.

[BowEd]

I think what I'm remembering about a little weight gain was when I first started making bows.Did'nt have any seasoned wood/in a hurry to get a bow made etc.Could be the situation Ritch was in too.Nowadays I don't think it's quite so much or noticeable.
From remembering what Tim Baker wrote in TBB book every ounce of moisture reduced increases the woods strength by 6%.I could have that wrong though.So a couple to a few points of moisture would make the bow anywhere from 12 to 18 per cent stronger.That has to take in account that the thickened handle would dry out the last but still have no affect on the limbs though I would think.

[Stick Bender]

I dont think all osage is created equal not talking the obvious knots ,early late ratios,Pins,ring thickness etc. but Badger spoke before about what wood he called superior that outlier bows made from them but in my humble exsperience I have noticed some a few scrapes and you can have pretty much a instant tiller change and some you can scrape & scrape with little change maybe the better is just denser and holds moisture longer hence the long cure. Who knows but when you get a good stave you know it !

[Badger]

I dont think all osage is created equal not talking the obvious knots ,early late ratios,Pins,ring thickness etc. but Badger spoke before about what wood he called superior that outlier bows made from them but in my humble exsperience I have noticed some a few scrapes and you can have pretty much a instant tiller change and some you can scrape & scrape with little change maybe the better is just denser and holds moisture longer hence the long cure. Who knows but when you get a good stave you know it !

    I don't run into that often mostly I think because I don't shoot most bows years later, I also seldom mark my poundage on a semi finished bow so I would not have any real stats on this but it does act like wet wood for sure. I tend to believe there is a slight hardening of the resins in the wood during the curing process but I know very little about how those chemical behave.

[Badger]

  This thread got me thinking so I pulled a few old bows out of the closet and checked them. One in particular was a bamboo backed osage that was about 7 years old. I just checked the draw weight and it is 68#. When I put the bow away I doubt it was over 54# no marked weight so I don't know for sure but I usually leave semi finished bows at about 54#.