Osage rings??

[adb]

OK, all you osage selfbow experts... Pearlie, Chickenhawk, Pat, Gordon, etc... what's better and why? Close, tight rings, or wide thick rings? Don't forget the why part.

[Josh B]

The important detail is the ratio of early wood to late wood.  Generally speaking, its easier to get the best ratio with thicker rings.  The early wood is only good for one thing as far as I'm concerned and that is it serves a nice guide for the draw knife when chasing a ring.  So the least amount of early wood the better.  That being said, I've made some pretty sweet shooters out of Osage that would rival warbow quality yew for ring count.  Josh

[Pat B]

Any osage is good! Wider rings are easier to work with but I really like thin ringed osage. The ratio of early to late rings is probably the most important part.
 I think I get better performance from the thin ringed stuff but I usually back the bow with rawhide for protection.

[blackhawk]

Josh n Pat got it covered....its all about the ratio...if my naked eagle eye can discern and distinguish heartwood from early wood I can run a ring and make a unbacked self bow...to add onto what has already been said you need to realize within the stave where it came from within the tree...was it from the tension or compression side? The bigger and easier rings will be on the compression side,and some people will mistake these as the best staves because it has the biggest rings in the tree...although compression side wood makes fine bows the tension side is going to be your better wood,and especially the best for your higher weight bows...if you didn't harvest the tree you prob don't know which side of the tree your stave came from ....this is something a lot of folks don't consider or pay enough attention too IMHO...

[adb]

When you say compression or tension side of the tree... do you mean which side of the tree was facing the prevailing wind, causing the tree to bend and flex during growth?

[adb]

The important detail is the ratio of early wood to late wood.  Generally speaking, its easier to get the best ratio with thicker rings.  The early wood is only good for one thing as far as I'm concerned and that is it serves a nice guide for the draw knife when chasing a ring.  So the least amount of early wood the better.  That being said, I've made some pretty sweet shooters out of Osage that would rival warbow quality yew for ring count.  Josh

So, the late wood (heartwood) should be thicker than the early wood (sapwood)?

[blackhawk]

Yes that's one way...another is hillsides...or like branches with the top side being tension wood holding the weight of the branch,and that's why when cut and split and relieved of its stresses wood will reflex as it dries...I've seen staves once split immediately move within the first hour after splitting it out...and tension wood is very strong and resistant to taking a set hence why its best using it for your higher weight bows ....last night when I cut that long osage bow out it immediately gained another half inch right off the saw from taking more wood off it relieving it even more from being g held back by the previous weight that was holding it back....

[Josh B]

What we mean by early and late wood is every year when the tree comes out of dormancy, it lays down a rapid growth of extremely porous wood to get the sap moving.  After it lays that down it starts growing the late wood that is very dense with few pores.  This late wood is the good stuff.  This is where the description ring porous in hardwood comes from.  Every year the new ring starts out porous and then gets less so as the growing season progresses.  I think I have an end cut pic of some fair  ratio Osage that will show it.  In the pic the end cut looks banded.  One light color ring, one dark color ring.  In truth, its one ring.  The light band is the early wood the late wood is the darker stuff.  Josh

[blackhawk]

Yup...the less overall percentage of the porous wood within a stave the better...because the porous wood is brash,brittle,and junk...its called porous because it contains pores....which is basically air pockets...and we all know how great air bends,and how dense it is...so the less porous wood within the stave the less "air" is in your wood and making it denser and a higher specific gravity...

[adb]

Yup...the less overall percentage of the porous wood within a stave the better...because the porous wood is brash,brittle,and junk...its called porous because it contains pores....which is basically air pockets...and we all know how great air bends,and how dense it is...so the less porous wood within the stave the less "air" is in your wood and making it denser and a higher specific gravity...

Ahhh... thanks! That's the 'why' part I was looking for! Thanks, Amigo!

[George Tsoukalas]

Adapt. If the rings are thin leave it wider. If the ratio of heartwood to sapwood is not good leave it wider. Jawge

[Joec123able]

Of course im no "osage selfbow expert" but My favorite Osage bow has almost 50/50 ratio of late to early wood, it has zero string follow after countless shots. Probably just got lucky with it.

[Josh B]

Sorry Adam, I misunderstood your reply question.  I've never heard any one refer to early growth as sapwood before or lategrowth as heartwood.  Sapwood and heartwood have a completely different definition in my admittedly limited vocabulary.  Another case of confused terminology I guess.  Luckily Chris answered your question.  Josh

[Dean Marlow]

I am beginning to wonder about this ratio thing in Osage myself. I have made several Osage bows and cut a-lot of it also. I understand that the wide ring Osage is easier to chase and to stay in the same ring . I just finished a Osage bow that when finished all there was left was about 2 or 3 wide  growth rings when done. Not a real snappy bow compared to some I made with more of the early wood late wood ratio. Beginning to wonder if there is more to white ring in Osage than we think.

[Josh B]

Lower mass?  I've oftened wondered about the performance of a two ring bow.  One ring for tension and one solid ring on the belly with a thick earlywood core.  Just never found a stave that worked out that way to try it.  Josh