60 yr old Osage help!

[ftanner]

My grandfather gave me an Osage orange log he cut nearly 60 years ago. It has been stored in his basement since and is rock hard. He was going to make a bow but didn't get the chance so he gave it to me. I'm fairly new to bow making...I've made a few mainly pyramid style red oak and hickory flat bows (2 turned out pretty decent). Needless to say, still learning. Any suggestions on where to start? Style? Dimensions? I've never worked with osage orange. Given how old it is, and that it's from my grandpa, I would hate to mess up the wood. It is about 7 feet long, 7 inches wide and 3-4 inches thick. Thanks!

[bow101]

Wow I have an old piece of yew and it is hard as a rock, cut some strips from it, they just explode.....

[JW_Halverson]

The older the wood, the easier to chase rings.  Oldest I ever played with was cut just after the civil war, they were beams in a milk house in Missouri until the late 1980's.  Pity I was such an idiot that I ruined the one workable stave trying to impress a young lady of obvious charms.

You got a draw knife?

[Joec123able]

Looks like you could get 2 bows out of it I'd definetly take it slow on it don't rush that's my advice. Wood that old may need some moisture added to it

[Josh B]

Looks like you could get 2 bows out of it I'd definetly take it slow on it don't rush that's my advice. Wood that old may need some moisture added to it

Moisture added to it?   Care to elaborate on that?

Moisture aside,  your biggest problem is the twist shown in the bark.  Do you have any full length pics of the bark down both sides?  The rings look excellent and like JW said, the old stuff is a pleasure to chase rings on.  But that may be a mute point if the twist is as bad as it appears.  I'm sure you can get a couple bows out of that.  Probably not self bows though.  Josh

[randman]

Nice piece of wood! If guys can make bows out of old fence posts that have been outside in the ground for 90 years, I don't know why you couldn't make that work good. Looks like it's been seasoned in a good environment.

 Looks like it has a split starting on one end right down the direction of how you want to split that. If you're lucky, it'll split perfect down the middle in two halves. Do you feel lucky? I never feel lucky so I'd just use my bandsaw. right down the middle following all the curves. That split/saw cut will be the belly side and the sapwood side will be the back. Get down through the checks in the sapwood and chase a ring for the back. Looks like it has great thick latewood rings. and some nice character.
Just my 2 cents. Don't know osage but I'm learnin lots from guys like Gun Doc. I didn't even notice the twist or the bark (I thought those were just drying checks in the sapwood). Do you think the twist is that bad Doc? Would the whole board have twisted as it seasoned if it was severe? Or would it only appear after the stave was thinned down?

[Joec123able]

Looks like you could get 2 bows out of it I'd definetly take it slow on it don't rush that's my advice. Wood that old may need some moisture added to it

Moisture added to it?   Care to elaborate on that?

Moisture aside,  your biggest problem is the twist shown in the bark.  Do you have any full length pics of the bark down both sides?  The rings look excellent and like JW said, the old stuff is a pleasure to chase rings on.  But that may be a mute point if the twist is as bad as it appears.  I'm sure you can get a couple bows out of that.  Probably not self bows though.  Josh

I'm just saying wood that old may be brittle dry and alittle moisture wouldn't hurt

[Josh B]

Randman-I'm pretty sure that's the bark showing the twist, but even if it is drying checks as you say it still shows a very pronounced twist in the grain as the checks more or less follow the grain.  I'm sure it grew that way.  If it twisted while drying, the milled surface on both sides would reflect that and they look pretty flat.  I do see some serious potential for hick or boo backed Osage there.  But that's out of my admittedly small area of knowledge.  Having never made a laminate in my life.
Joe- once that wood reaches equilibrium with the relative humidity, it stays in equilibrium.  Only varying slightly to maintain equilibrium with the rh as it fluctuates.  Even if you kept it in the bathroom next to the shower for a year and managed to raise the moisture content a few percent, which makes no sense to do, it would just return to equilibrium in a little time away from the higher moisture environment.  It would more than likely check all over in the process.  Josh

[Joec123able]

Randman-I'm pretty sure that's the bark showing the twist, but even if it is drying checks as you say it still shows a very pronounced twist in the grain as the checks more or less follow the grain.  I'm sure it grew that way.  If it twisted while drying, the milled surface on both sides would reflect that and they look pretty flat.  I do see some serious potential for hick or boo backed Osage there.  But that's out of my admittedly small area of knowledge.  Having never made a laminate in my life.
Joe- once that wood reaches equilibrium with the relative humidity, it stays in equilibrium.  Only varying slightly to maintain equilibrium with the rh as it fluctuates.  Even if you kept it in the bathroom next to the shower for a year and managed to raise the moisture content a few percent, which makes no sense to do, it would just return to equilibrium in a little time away from the higher moisture environment.  It would more than likely check all over in the process.  Josh

Ahhh yea makes sence thanks

[Pat B]

Since you are relatively new to this bow building madness I'd suggest you study that stave for a bit while you build a few more bows if for no othe reason than to get some experience. Gun Doc picked up on the slight twist and a few other problems with the stave. With a little more experience you'll be able to build a bow worthy of that old stave and Grandpa.
  It is way cool to have a 60 year old stave that was handed down by your Grandpa. Make the best bow you can for him! 

[ftanner]

To answer questions...I don't have a draw knife...need to get one. I've been using rasps and a bench plane. Will that work for chasing the rings back? If I just split the log, keep the width of the bow at least a couple of inches and then tapering into half inch or so? Possibly back with hickory? Not sure where to start after splitting. And I'll post pics of the bark to take a look at the twist in it. Thanks for the input.

[Poggins]

I would remove the bark and sapwood before I went any further , the twist in the bark looks like it may center back up at the bow in the stave . Without a pic of the bark the full length it's hard to tell if the twist goes off or centers back up after the bow , after you chase it to one ring on both sides you can get it out into the sunlight and follow the grain and see if it runs off the side of the stave. I haven't made any laminates ether but know a few that do , if he leaves it in bord form couldn't he rip it down into smaller strips and get more bows that way ( still like to see self bows from that peace) .

[blackhawk]

I'm with pat...set it aside and go get yourself a drawknife and learn how to be proficient with it,and make some more bows before trying to make a bow with that...it deserves your best effort for when your skills have improved...not sure if there's two self bows in that or several belly cores for laminates..need to see a pic of the whole length of the bark..can you post one?

[Eric Krewson]

If the wood has been stored in a basement it may need a few months to dry out before you make a bow out of it. Of course it depends on the basement and where in the country it is located. In my basement or crawl space (I have both) my staves dry to 16%MC and no further, ambient for my area is 12%. My basement looks pretty dry but steel items will rust down there over time so looks can be deceiving.

None of the basements I have been in would let wood dry out to the point of being "to dry".

[osage outlaw]

I would suggest you get some osage from somewhere else and make several successfull bows out of it before you attempt anything on that piece of wood.  Its special and was cut by your grandfather.  You only get one shot at doing it justice.  You should know how to work osage before you touch it.  That's just my opinion.