discolored osage

[osage outlaw]

When I split the osage tree that my grandpa used to hunt out of I had to pull some nails out of it where he had the 2x4 steps attached.  When I split it into staves I found this at every spot where there were nails.  I was expecting some scaring and staining but not this much.  Has anyone made a bow out of osage that had this kind of discoloration?  It seems like solid wood, just stained a dark gray/green.

[koan]

Wow...never seen that color. Its usually brown/purple. I wonder if they were galvanized nails or something out of the ordinary?... Brian

[Gsulfridge]

Makes it very distinct and unique. You gotta make a bow outta that to preserve the hunting heritage passed down. I love it when staves have history and storylines. 

[Wiley]

I'm going to say that if you can work around the nail holes it will probably be alright, but i've never tried it myself. I think it is definitely worth a try given it's history.

It is a reaction between the iron in the nails and the tannin in the wood, and it gets darker the longer the exposure is. The process of this reaction is called "ebonizing", you can exploit this reaction to stain any wood with a high tannin content using a solution with a lot of iron in it, typically it's done by soaking steel wool or other sort of non-stainless steel in vinegar and painting it onto the wood. This is the same reaction just over a long time of iron leeching into the wood. As far as I know I've never heard of it affecting the integrity of the wood.

[bubby]

I figure if anybody can it's the Outlaw

[Josh B]

Its fine Clint.  Just a stain.  You ought to see what railroad spikes left in an oak tree does.  They will turn the entire trunk black through and through!  Josh

[Crogacht]

I wish I had a stave I could say my grandpa stained before I cut it down

[Pappy]

It will be fine,the nails change the color,the first bow of the year I got was called 3 nail for that same reason and had the same color. My timber guy told me a saw mill won't take a log with that color in it because they know there is a nail or steel in it somewhere. I worked around the nail holes just like you would a knot.
  Pappy

[Bogaman]

Great history, for what I would imagine to be a great bow;^)

[autologus]

The Iron in the nails probably reacted with the acidity of the wood and the tannin's to create a vinegroon stain.

Grady