Splitting Osage

[ozark caveman]

Several questions here guy's. I have a osage tree thats really straight but only about 3" in diameter. It would have a high crown in the heartwood. I want to do a elb style bow with that piece. Let me know what you think.
  My next question is this. I split a piece of osage that had an incredible amount of reflex in it. Probably about 7" but the opposite side of this log has an incredible amount of deflex in it unless I was to flip it over and use the belly side. It seems like I remember reading about guy's doing this in the bowyers bible. The rings would form lines going down the length of the bow. I feel that if I don't let the lines escape the side of the limbs that I could pull this off is this true? Thank you!

Caveman

[tom sawyer]

Leave some sapwood on teh skinny split if you need to, just be sure to seal the back really well.  Osage sapwood is very wet and notorious for checking badly.  A high crown on an ELB isn't that big of a deal though, its not that wide so there won't be that much of a crown.

You might try a backwards bow like you say, I think I'd maybe back it with rawhide though.  I've seen very few bows made this way and the majority of them didn't survive very long.  Your deflexed stave is trained to be compression wood, it probably won't be as good in tension as a result of growing under the opposite force.  Sometimes wood is better as firewood.

Oh and you might start your split on the little log in the middle and work out to each end.  Sometimes a split will run off the log on the smaller ones.  Starting in the middle with a hatchet head,akm es it where you don't have to go as far to get to either end.

Good luck and keep us posted with pics.

[Eric Krewson]

You can turn that deflexed stave into a reflexed stave with a heat gun, a reflex form and a bunch of time.

[ozark caveman]

You can turn that deflexed stave into a reflexed stave with a heat gun, a reflex form and a bunch of time.

No thanks!
  Thanks Tom but I'm not going to split the smaller one. I'm just going to ring it and start to work the belly down to an elb shape

[Eric Krewson]

My theory on osage is "waste not, want not". Don't  discard that deflexed stave. As you skill level increases you will look at it as a perfectly acceptable stave. I have straightened a bunch of 45 degree dogleg staves and more deflexes than I can remember. It is all part of the process if one chooses to work with osage.

That said, I am sure there are people living in Kansas or Oklahoma with access to so much to osage that they wouldn't think of wasting time on a less than perfect stave. I have always cut in front of a bulldozer here in Alabama and don't have the luxury of being too picky. I  have so much osage cut and stored that I will never have to cut it again in my life time. 

[Ryano]

Caveman, I use deflexed staves like that all the time. With a little heat and a form you can get a nice deflex reflex profile.

[radius]

I  have so much osage cut and stored that I will never have to cut it again in my life time. 
[/quote]

Hey, my friend!  Up here in Canada, this famous osage tree doesn't grow.  NOt in my part of the country anyway.  And since you say you have a huge surplus...any chance you might send some of it my way?  I'd gladly send you the shipping in advance.

Thanks...fellow bowmaker on Vancouver Island, British Columbia