Sketchy osage stave

[Fox]

I have a very hard time getting my hands on any osage and so i have only worked with osage once. and that was a ruff peace and i messed it up so it broke... anyways i have another ruff stave and am wondering if there's a bow are two in it... oh and its from a dead standing limb... it is 57" long and about 4" thick or so the problem is this place where it grew odd and think it will only make one bow cause of it... thanks

  -Fox

[Bryce]

That actually looks like a lot of fun. Send it my way lol

[bradsmith2010]

only one way to find out,, just try

[TimothyR]

That's pretty rough for sure.  I hope you get a bow out of it. Post lots of pics if you get one out of it. Should make a fantastic character bow, if you can conjure one out ! 

[DC]

I don't know what your experience is so excuse me if you've been at this a while. If you're new I would put that one aside for a few years. It looks like there may be a special bow in there so I wouldn't rush it.

[Jim Davis]

Puhleeez...Somebody send that  boy a real Osage stave!!!!!!

[Fox]

Thanks for the replies guys! I'm pretty new, Ive been making bows for probly 2 years and i wouldn't rather do anything else  . I have probably made about 10-15 or so. But most of them have been pretty slow and taken a lot of set... but i am only 15 so i suppose i have plenty of time to get the bow i want!  . i cut a few trees last spring (Birches, hickory, and walnut) and split them in the fall, and learned that one of them all prop twisty so i strugled with that a lot and had a hard time getting a good bow out of the birch so I'm just breaking into the hickory now and am exited about it.... anyway so yeah DC i will likely set this one aside and wait for the hickory to get totally dry. ill post pics if this ever becomes a bow though!

 -Fox

[BowEd]

More power to you.I'd call it a good therapy project.You never know what you'll find as you move along.Take your time.Could be a bow there on 1 side.Look forward to seeing the finished project.

[simson]

Is there no sap wood?
If it was dead standing and dry debark it chase a ring and let us see pics.
You sure can make a bow out of it, but as Bryce said looks like a lot of fun.

Good luck!

[BowEd]

Simon...Sapwood is not rot resistent on osage but the heartwood is.So it slouphs off with time.Even dead standing osage does this.We have many line fence posts around here that have been in the ground for 70 years that will look like that.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I'll be the odd man out here, it's junk. You can spend many hours to find that out, or, find a suitable piece of wood with that time.

[TimBo]

It may very well be junk, but I would split it and try to chase a ring on the good half, and try not to get too attached to it.  If nothing else you will have some ring chasing practice and get it down closer to bow dimensions.  If it looks like a waste of time then, you can give up on it or set it aside for later. 

[hoosierf]

I’d saw it in half the post some pics to this thread so the guys can see what’s happening under the bark and with the grain. I’d hesitate to split that one. It looks twisted.

[BowEd]

Yes personally Fox some of us have been down that road a few times with like type projects.Down side is you'll have checks running very deep in that and possibly wasp holes just as deep.Knots giving you curves.While scraping rock hard wood away to a thin piece.
Always an upside though.Might not be that way.You never know till you find out for yourself.Unfortunately there is'nt much out there that will duplicate good seasoned wood bare bones.If it does make a bow it should be very resilient.

[Fox]

Okay ill split it and practice chasing a ring cause I'm bad at that.  so it will be good practice... ill post some pics along the way. Also what is the smalest growth ring tou would dom cause this doesn't really have any very big ones