Hedge Found: The Good, The Bad, and...

[Comancheria]

...the Uncertain--a detective story.

The GOOD: I run a few head of cattle on a pasture that belonged to my Great Grandfather.  My 90 year old Aunt has 243 acres adjoining that land.  She and my Mother (her 90-year old twin), when shown a half-decayed Horse Apple, remembered such a tree near a house they had lived in during the Depression--the foundations of which are on my Aunt's place.  I asked the guy who runs our cattle and he said there was a "Bodark" but he thought it might have been pushed down during a partition fence build. 

The BETTER: I found it and it is good sized--10 to 14 inches in diameter near the base.

The BAD: it was, in fact, dozed down two or three years ago.  The bottom 3 feet are obscured in a ball of roots and dirt.  No fruit or leaves, but the ID was positive.  Though inexperienced, I thought I recognized the bark.  Then I saw the golden color of the roots.  I had no chainsaw, but was able to take off a couple of 2-inch branches with my trusty Scandinavian Forest Axe.  And the inside was as gold and exciting looking as the first nuggets the 49ers found in their pans.

The UNCERTAIN:  I have heard of course, that Osage can lie outside for a while.  I am a little worried, though, having found worm holes on the very small branches I cut off to take home.  In January I can get back with a chainsaw, start wading through tje brush pile, and see what can be salvaged.  At best, I think I have a shot at a couple of straight trunks between 8 and 12 inches thick and 6-8 feet in length.  We shall see.

In other news, the whole area is grown up in huge clumps of Youpon Holly.

Best Regards,

Russ

[turtle]

I wouldnt worry too much about the worms. They normaly dont go deep enough to ruin a whole stave,but will make you chase deeper ino the heartwood.

[Aaron H]

I wouldnt worry too much about the worms. They normaly dont go deep enough to ruin a whole stave,but will make you chase deeper ino the heartwood.

+1

[Comancheria]

Interesting--the branch I retrieved was about 2 1/2 inches thick and I counted around 20
Rings in the heartwood and that many or more of sapwood.  This branch was fairly far up on the tree. Has anyone noticed any relationship between the heartwood quality of the major trunks and branches on the one hand and that of small branches on the other hand?

[Springbuck]

  So, the only osage I ever harvested in Utah, I took from a tree that had fallen over into another tree ina windstorm (we get 150 mpf winds out of the canyons some winters)  It had been there so long the branches had grown together, so I walked up and cut it 2' above the rootball, and freed the trunk 6' plus above that.  The rest of the tree had stayed there.

It had sat there so long that the bark was long gone and ants had eaten some sapwood.  The surface wood was starting to weather like a cedar fence.  But, it only had little checks, and the wood was beautiful and sound as can be in the heart.  The deepest I had to chase was the second heartwood ring down.

Osage is amazing stuff.

[SLIMBOB]

My guess, your fine.  The smaller branches can have a higher percentage of sap wood.  The worms shouldn't have gone to deep into the heart wood.

[osage outlaw]

Being down for a couple of years shouldn't hurt it to much.  You might loose the outer few rings from checks and worm damage.  I cut this tree that was laying in a dry creek bed for at least 5 years.  Ozzy took one of the staves from it and made a fine hunting bow.  He killed an 8 point buck with it last year. 


 
The bugs didn't go very deep

[blackhawk]

I can't count how many bows I've made from long dead downed on the ground,or standing dead osage...only one way to know,and that's to give it a try

[Comancheria]

Good news.  Outlaw, i will learn how to upload ova to the site at some point.  Those logs look like they have almost no sapwood at all.

[Danzn Bar]

I can't count how many bows I've made from long dead downed on the ground,or standing dead osage...only one way to know,and that's to give it a try

I remember one that you presented to the Host at Moontree I,  that was a fine bow.   

[helmet]

awesome story and good info. thank you.

[osage outlaw]

Here is the picture of Comancheria's osage tree.  From what I can see from the picture it looks like the bark runs pretty straight.  That is a nice straight trunk section in the center.

[paulsemp]

Had a lot of great luck with dead osage myself. I always take it and ask questions later. Most of the time you can work around worm holes and bad checks. Worst case scenario it makes great firewood. And also those limbs with high ring counts make some nice bows.

[Eric Krewson]

Well, I could be wrong but that doesn't look like osage to me. Being on the ground for a while could change the way typical osage bark looks. Osage roots are not golden colored, they are very bright red/orange like a pumpkin.

[Comancheria]

Thank you for posting that, Outlaw.  I am currently operating with only an iPhone, and everything is a huge hassle,  but I will eventually get to where I can post my own photos.  Then everyone wll be able to thrill to my first board bows.😊

The trunk looked pretty good to my own semi-educated eye as well.  When I salvage the stuff I will let you know.  Again, for the opinions.

Russ