i need help on stave's

[Shooter_G22]

ok gent's,

   i really need some help on this one.....    a few weeks back i was asking about how to prepare a stve or limb to be prepared for bow wood...

and a few weeks back i mentioned that i knew of an area that was being ripped through for construction... and i said i saw some tree piles of trees that had been riped down...   well i was coming home from work today and i had to stop of my field superviser house to drop of a hammerdrill... anyways he lives close enough to me and thats why i was the one to bring him the tools...   however it made me come home a differant route than normal and this is where the construction is being done... and i just soo decided to go on ahead and drive into the site since i was in my old pick up and i was curoiuse to see what i could find..   

    Well they have these huge piles of trees that have been ripped down none of these trees were chain sawed they were just bull dozed right into these big piles of tree graves... and they have this huge wood chipper taht chips and throughs the chips into 18 wheel trailers to be hailed off...    well as i got closer to the first pile i saw a bunch of horse apples or monkey balls all over the ground and of coarse i got excited and then as i got close enough to see i actually got off my truck and went to the pile and noticed that there were several bodark tree's all around the rubbage...   there  is alot to be had there but it was deep and twisted into other trees sooo i knew i was going to need some help... 

    so i called a few of the boys from the youth teem and told them that if they were gonna want to do some good bow projecting then they would need to help.. i was able to get one of the boys to come and help... he's only 15yrs old but he is bigger than a lumberjack.. and taller than me.. id say bout 6'1 and stout... we picked up a tow strap form my pops house and went back to the piles trying to fight the sunset...
we were able to fish out several staves and one big trunk... but i ont know how to split the wood and i know its been sitting out there untreeted in piles of wood for anywhere from several weeks to a couple of months...

here is my question...   is this wood still good for bow making?

and what do i do now... 

the thing is tomorrow i have to do this 5k run "Race for the Cure"   and after that i have to get ready for my cousins weeding at baout 1:30  or 1330...

soo i know i wont be able to work on the stave i have in the back of my truck till sunday... but sunday i have allready told the team that we would be back at the pile trying to get as much of that osage as we can cuase i'm affraid that monday they will be back to chipping all of it down... and i know that there is at least 5 or six big trees still left in there and lots of little ones that would be perfect staves for like the bow stick type....   and that is just what waas visible in the 2 pile we reconed... but there are about 8-10 piles out ther so there is lots more to be had im sure not to mention lots of oak and mapple in ther as well... along with lots of poplar and misquite and cdar and pine... 
but i only going for the osage for i know that ican get oak anytime and well maple i could look for that as well later...

i got some pics of the stuff i grabed in about 1 hr 15min befor it was to dark to see anymore and we were also trying to skin all the shrub and thorn small limbs so i wouldnt be bringing home bushy trees... sooo i know i ddint grab much but here are the pics...
 




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[Shooter_G22]

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[El Destructo]

                                              Looks like a nice Truckload of Firewood to me.............

[Shooter_G22]

El Destructo ,

  do you really think it all bad?   do you think its a waste of time to try and get this stuff..  i know there is alot mor int there and i was planning to go back and get the rest.. or as much as i can... 

   and i was hoping if its still good if any body in the north texas area... would come and grab some too... if anybody is willing to come out to dallas i would be more than happy to met up and take to this site of where this wood is... i just think its a shame to have all this osage turn to wood chips and used for land fill or waht ever hey are planning to do with it when there are bowers out there that could in fact use this stuff!!! 

 arent you from Texas... are you in this area??? 
i though i read some where you were in Texas?  but i know almost 10hrs from tip to tip...lol..

[DanaM]

I see a few bows in there Shooter try to be selective and find the straightest most knot free pieces.
After you spend all day splitting some and realize its junk you will learn to be more selective. Don't forget that
2 short pieces can be spliced. Becareful in them piles don't want to get caught by a springpole or have a pile shift and crush ya
As for splitting it big hammer, wedges, and sweat is all it takes

[El Destructo]

Yeah.......I live about an hour North of Amarillo............about 6 hours from Dallas/Fort Worth......I have been in the same situation that you are right now.......I have a Son that Lives in Houston....at the time He was living in The Woodlands...........it was an Oak Forest.......then they decided to Subdivide it....well instead of calling in a Timber Company to cut the Oak......they called in a Dirt Work Contractor....and a Fleet of D6's....8's.....and Frontend Loaders......they just started to Bulldoze this beautiful Oak to the Ground....and then pushed it into Piles for a Giant Shredder ti devour it all..........My Son and I went and tried to salvage some of it....I got a few good staves...but most were either Track Damaged....or so stress Cracked that it was barely worth the time to mess with....I couldn't believe how tangled up that stuff had gotten either....it was almost like it was weaved together!! It's a shame what they are doing in your Area and in Houston..I was told by the Contractor in Houston that it was not Monetarily Feasible to have a Timber Company come in and Clear Cut it for Lumber and Pulp Wood...........made Me sick!!!

They also did this to about 15 sections of Mature Mesquite here about three Years ago.....just pulled it all up and bulldozed it into pile to let sit..........I couldn't even get it apart.....it was so tangled up....and with the Thorns....it made the job too dangerous..........

I am sure that if you have time to go through this....you will find some good wood in there......I didn't have that option.......they were still working it on this site........I went through some until I was asked to leave.......because I was a liability to the Company if I got hurt!! Go for it....and I hope that you can get a Truckload of good logs ........I was making a funny about the Fire Wood!!

[cowboy]

Shooter: I know those piles must look like gold mines right now, but  like Dana said - be a little picky when gathering bow wood. Just don't want to go through all that work to find out it's useless. That one big log that's been ripped off from the base and has splits all through it may be junk. If you could find a good three foot section in there then you may have some billet material, some of those other limbs I'm sure have a bow in em too. If you can take a chain saw out there and cut out the cleanest parts of the trunks that are left, I know you'd have some good wood. And yep - wedges, sledge, and a lot of sweat to split up the bigger one's .

[Pat B]

Good wood or bad, be very careful dealing with pushed up trees like in your pics. Some of that wood is under extreme tension and can be very dangerous, especially for the chainsaw operator. Sometines it just ain't worth the effort. If you can find pieces that aren't in the twisted mess you might be able to find a few decent staves.  BE CAREFUL!!!     Pat

[JackCrafty]

Yeah, it's going to be tough getting good bows from wood piles.  To be completely honest with you Shooter, you might be better off just buying unfinished, floor tillered staves by mail order. This is especially true if you've got young people's safety to worry about.  Just google "floor tillered staves".  They run about $30 each plus shipping.

If you don't have the money, then trade with the guys on this forum.

If you still want to recycle the woodpile stuff, you'll have to get good at finding the good pieces (like already suggested).  This takes time...lots of time.  And we haven't even discussed the problem of bugs that may have infested the wood.  The wood in the pics looks to be about 75% firewood and 25% character staves.  Character staves require a lot of experience to work with.

On the positive side, if you get good at scrounging wood from woodpiles, you'll have an almost unlimited supply of wood.

[Shooter_G22]

OH MY GOD!!! 

    why didnt anybody tell me it was going to be hard as hell spliting a trunk...   i worked on it a little today after i got done with all the other things i had on my agenda...   whew  it took me all of a few hrs contstantly working trying to split the thing... i might have to go buy me some better tools to get these things split i had an old spliting ax  that the handle had broke as my wedge and a sledge and a few muscle hammers i use for forgeing and some rail road spikes... the rr spikes saved the day...  but it was hard to split this thing and i got it split in half now but it got dark on me so i didnt get to spilt it down to staves.... but i think some of it is going to produce some good staves....  i want to go back to the tree piles and get another trunk  i saw a pretty big tree that didnt have any breaks like this one it was in tact root and all... but it was twisted up and under some other trees i treid puling it out with strap but it snaped the strap... strap was old and a little rotted... soo i need to go back with some chain or a btter strap and try pulling it out wioth my truck again... doing that tomorrow and i think i'm going to be busy all week trying to split this these things into staves...  i really wish i had that band saw and i think i see what some were talikng about by getting a big saw to hepl with reducing logs to staves...lol..

ill post a pic of the split later i have to upload from my phone...  i think that it might work but i dont know...

i know in the picture of the trunk at the end it looked like it was all pressure cracked threw out the log... but once i split it i think the center is still in tact and will make some staves... well hell if i get a few staves from all this work it will be better than what i had a few days ago... wich is no ossage staves...

but i think this stuff is still very wet.. so im going to have to let it dry and i havent sealed anything yet i hope i dont ruin anything....

but when i get it spilt down to stave im going to seal it with some wood glue...

wish i had a chainsaw!!!  and a bandsaw!!! 

[DanaM]

You really can't bandsaw staves out of osage as you will violate the grain and all your hard work will be wasted
You need to get at least 3 or 4 good splitting wedges. Also with osage you need to be aware of the wood bores
which can also ruin your wood, at a minimum seal the ends and treat the wood with an insecticide. Preferably remove
the bark and sapwood and then seal the ends and back.

Please becareful trying to get wood out of those piles, ever see what a snapped chain does to a truck when it connects
now just picture a person getting hit, can cut ya in two No wood is worth your life.

[cowboy]

Shooter: Endeavor to persevere on splitting those logs, they can and will split with the right tools and a lot of want too. You would be better off finding some standing osage but like you say, having any staves beats having none - looks like your in the gathering stage like I was last year.

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[cracker]

Shooter: Endeavor to persevere on splitting those logs, they can and will split with the right tools and a lot of want too. You would be better off finding some standing osage but like you say, having any staves beats having none - looks like your in the gathering stage like I was last year.

Hi Cowboy thats an awful looking piece of osage you should send it to GA and I'll dispose of it properly. Seriously I split a red elm that was so tough I drove 5/8 lag bolts into it in a line with an impact wrench  just to get a crack started. Ronnie