Last week I was trolling some old threads on here and came across someone discussing working with local public land managers to find good bow wood. I took the tip and decided to email local forestry and park management. The responses I got were great! They couldn't allow me to cut down anything standing, but they said they cut down fresh and salvage old hickory and osage almost every year and would keep me in mind when they got some. Yesterday one of the park managers emailed me back and said he still had an 5'-6' long 12''thick osage log that he'd cut last year sitting by a pile of lumber near their management shed and that I could have it if I wanted. I just got back from checking it out. It's more like 9' long and 18'' thick at the base! While it's not as straight as one would want, I'm guessing I'll be able to get a TON of billets out of it. I couldn't pick it up today because it was frozen to the ground, but I'll go back as soon as I can (might need to take some help to lift it). Anyway, lesson learned - public park managers are GREAT resources to help find quality bow wood. Here're the pics I got:
Here's the base:
Here's the other end - I'm not an expert, but I think those rings look pretty good from a early/late wood ratio:
Last one was me just wanting to strike gold to make sure it was osage - I'm still kind of a no0b at identifying wood by the bark. I'm really only comfortable ID'ing hickory and mulberry so far.
