Author Topic: Anybody dealt with this!  (Read 2023 times)

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Offline artcher1

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Anybody dealt with this!
« on: January 25, 2011, 08:37:14 pm »
Got some Osage billets in on trade for some of my cane arrows and kinda of worried about this one billet. Looks and feels (with drawknife)  like decay to me. Anyone dealt with something like this before? Art

Offline sailordad

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Re: Anybody dealt with this!
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2011, 09:13:25 pm »
im am by no means an expert on osage or anything else realy  :P
but that black stuff looks like a fungus or maybe mold even to me
i always wanted a harley,untill it became the "thing to ride"
i ride because i love to,not to be part of the crowd

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Anybody dealt with this!
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2011, 09:40:12 pm »
I have some staves with dark redish streaks in them and they have worked for bows.  I don't know about the black stuff though.  That could be fungus or something.
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline xin

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Re: Anybody dealt with this!
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2011, 11:05:55 pm »
The bows I have made with the red streaks were the best bows I've made.  The Osage with red streaks seems to be denser  wood.  I don't know about the darker marks.  I'd have to see it live and in person to make any judgement.  I suspect you have some good bow wood  and should proceed on to a finished bow.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2011, 11:49:21 pm by xin »

Offline Pat B

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Re: Anybody dealt with this!
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2011, 12:47:22 am »
I think there are two different versions of red streaked osage. Any that I have used has been superior osage but I have heard of folks having very poor quality red streaked osage. Probably two different situations. The gray streaks definately look like fungi(spalting) and I guess the red could be a fungi also.
  If the wood feels douty it probably won't be good osage bow wood. Might make nice accent pieces. I think I'd try to get a better match for the other billet. Obviously not sisters...heck, not even distant cousins!  ;)
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline bigcountry

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Re: Anybody dealt with this!
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2011, 12:55:15 am »
I have an osage that looks just like that.  I have to say its a dog.  155fps with 9gpp.  But it shoots well.
Westminster, MD

Offline artcher1

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Re: Anybody dealt with this!
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2011, 08:59:30 am »
Thanks for the help guys. After doing some rasping on the wood this morning I'm pretty certain it's a form of decay also. Wood seems especially soft in the dark places plus it's rather brash. Good news though, the gentleman offered to replace it.............Art

Cacatch

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Re: Anybody dealt with this!
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2011, 09:30:56 am »
I think it is a form of decay. It may have been fallen wood or wood that was blown down in a storm. I try to stay away from fallen wood when I can help it. I once made 3 bows that should have been decent, if not very good, from an osage tree that was blown down when hurricane force winds blew through Indiana back in '08. Not one of the 3 bows survived to shoot-in stage. 2 blew up in final tillering without even lifting a splinter first. Like PatB said, I would not use that billet for bow.

CP