have a OSAGE ????? were to start

[lungbuster]

i fianlly found a piece of hard wood osage,iam new at this need a little help so i dont mess it up, what is easyer to build with osage a flate bow or a longbow,1 more ? there is a round circle in the middle i think its the heart of the wood it seems harder tho,is that were i want to take it down to..

[George Tsoukalas]

Stave or board? Have you made any bows? May I suggest you check my site? Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[lungbuster]

stave and yes i made to selfbow one flat bo & other long bow

[Pappy]

First if it isn't seasoned ,glue the ends so it don't check.If it is seasoned remove the bark and sap wood ,the white looking wood down to the yellow.When you get to all yellow then yo need to chase a growth ring from one end to the other.More on that when you get down to all yellow.
How big is the stave or log ? Pictures would help of the end of the log or stave so we can see what king of rings it has. Every piece of Osage won't make a bow.
   Pappy
     Pappy

[DanaM]

Yup pictures are necessary

[lungbuster]

heres some pic

[attachment deleted by admin]

[lungbuster]

the stave is 68" long,for the most part its strate

[yazoo]

I dont think that is osage, looks like locust,  what state is it cut in?

[lungbuster]

PA,it had thorns on it like it shows on the internet,

[Kent D.]

That does look a lot like black locust.  But not sure.  If not, that has a loooooot of sap wood.  Kind of looks like mulberry, except you said it has throrns.  Locust has thorns as well.  If you cut it this time of year, the tree should have had horse apples.  Some call them hedge apples, osage apples, spider apples, etc. etc.

If it is locust, you can still make a fine bow from it.

[DanaM]

Gotts agree looks like locust, either way you need to remove the sapwood and chase a heartwood ring.

[Eric Krewson]

Yep, that's not osage, looks like BL to me. BL has thorns .

[woodstick]

not osage but a goodlooking log.

[Hillbilly]

Looks like locust to me, too. Locust also makes a good bow. I would split that piece in half and seal the ends with glue or spray shellac.

[George Tsoukalas]

That does look like a locust. Black locust has thorns on the branches but not the trunk. Honey locust has thorns on both the branches and trunk.  Jawge