Osage..... Please tell me

[Tom Leemans]

Osage is magic wood. That is all you need to know.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I believe it to be thee absolute best all around bow wood going. No other wood matches its compression and tension qualities. Some match one or the other, but none match up head to head. Its hard, dense wood that takes any and all abuse given to it. You can have a nasty tiller and it still wont break, you can make it too short and still wont break, you make almost any error in building an osage bow and it still wont break. You dont have to temper it, you dont yhave keep it 72" long to get a bow either. Its builder friendly and the BEST in my tiny book. I believe if it grew abundantly across the USA we wouldnt even use several other locally available woods, its absence alone created another category of bow wood.

[Dean Marlow]

I call Osage the durability champion. Will last a lifetime if treated right. I have tried all different kinds of wood and so far it is my choice of  wood for bow making. The one most important thing to do if you get a stick of Osage is to make sure it is dry. Do not rush into bending wet wood. I am beginning to think the longer is has seasoned the better it is. Dean

[turtle]

As a bow wood Osage is in a catagorie all by its self. If you ever get some you wont be sorry.

[SLIMBOB]

....And it's magic.

[ionicmuffin]

From what ive seen and heard it would be worth your time getting some osage. You would be happy with it i would imagine. and if not then osage isnt for you. Cant hurt to try it once.(maybe it can...)

[jimmy]

It's funny, growing up in south Kansas, I always disregarded Osage trees because everyone did.  It was just a pain in the a*#.  Good for hedge rows along fields and fire wood.  Since I got into making bows I realize that I'm surrounded by gold.  Osage is the king.  You don't have to have it to make a good bow, but it is the spring steel of bow woods.  There is a reason why a good osage bow was worth so much to local tribes back in the day.  Nothing has has changed I guess, for those who know what's what.

[okie64]

Its great stuff. You might be better off not to try it , that way you'll never know what you're missing. Once you do try it you may have a hard time going back to anything else.

[osage outlaw]

It's funny, growing up in south Kansas, I always disregarded Osage trees because everyone did.  It was just a pain in the a*#.  Good for hedge rows along fields and fire wood.  Since I got into making bows I realize that I'm surrounded by gold.  Osage is the king.  You don't have to have it to make a good bow, but it is the spring steel of bow woods.  There is a reason why a good osage bow was worth so much to local tribes back in the day.  Nothing has has changed I guess, for those who know what's what.

Same here Jimmy.  Growing up we burnt mostly osage.  I hated the thorns.  I have a totally different view of it now. 

[RyanY]

Osage is beautiful, and a dream to work with but any bow wood will make a great bow if you do it right. In fact, osage, being so much denser than other woods, will more easily make a dog of a bow if not made well.

[Carson (CMB)]

Most everything I could say in praise of osage has already been said here.  One thing that separates good osage from the best is the early to late wood ratio.  Select a stave that has the least amount of early wood, the light porous wood, compared to the dense and darker late wood.