Osage Orange Question

[Oldvol]

I have 3 pieces of Osage that were given to me today. They range 3-5 inches in diameter. Is that too small for bow staves? If not, should I split them down the middle to dry?

[Stickhead]

Those look promising to me.  I managed to make two nice shooters from a 3” diameter Osage limb once.  In my case, I got lucky splitting it.  However, it’s dicey, and you might lose one half if it doesn’t split down the middle.  If you have access to a bandsaw, you can cut them down the middle more confidently.  For that curved limb, be sure to save the recurved half, even if you have to sacrifice the other half.
Be sure to seal the ends.  Some will say to debark and seal the backs, but I usually don’t debark until I start carving, and I’ve had good results.  I’d stash them in a dry place for a year or more to season.

[Oldvol]

Thank you. That sounds promising. I do have access to a band saw.

[Eric Krewson]

Very important, you can leave the bark on but if you take it off you must remove the white sapwood as well adn seal the back and ends with wood glue, shellac or other sealer.

If you leave the bark on you need to spray it with a strong insecticide or the wood wasps and powder post beetles wile ruin your staves.

Your wood won't dry for a very long time if you don't at least split your logs in half.

[Oldvol]

Thank you. I am going to leave the bark on. Should I spray only the bark or the entire stave?

[Pat B]

The bug eggs are in the bark.
 What I do with small diameter osage is saw it in half lengthwise then bind the two halves back together with small wood spacers between the halves. This will help prevent twisting or taking on too much uneven reflex. You can add reflex later with heat.

[ssrhythm]

I have left the bark on my staves to save time up front the last two years I harvested osage.  I had a bunch of splitting work, and I ended up with a bunch of staves;  I was tired, and I don't need to remove bark to speed drying time or remove wasp larvae, as the Indiana Osage I cut has never had wasp larvae or they simply can't make it thru the WY winters...IDK.  Anyhoo, removing the bark and sapwood on these cured staves has been nothing short of a royal PITA compared to when I removed the bark and sapwood straight after harvesting and splitting.

Do yourself a huge favor on many fronts and go ahead and remove the bark and sapwood after you split or saw those in half.  You will likely only have 4 staves...6 max, and removing the bark and sapwood will

1.  be much, much easier now rather than later
2.  prevent accidental back checking from happening if, over time, pieces of the bark start separating from or get
     knocked off of the stave.  This can and does happen, and when it does, the sapwood will check and carry the
     check deep into the back of the stave.
3.  remove any possibility that one of the possible wasp larvae survives the pesticide and ruins your stave.
4.  allow you to chase rings on the staves and reduce them to "roughed out" bow status.  Despite sealing the ends
     and back, roughing out will result in much quicker time to "cured."  That said, with those sized staves, you
     aren't going to gain much speed of drying because there is not much mass to remove, but with bigger staves,
     it will make a huge difference.

You are going to have to do it eventually...so knock it out now.

[gutpile]

a pic of the ends would help .. some limbs are mostly sapwood with hardly any heartwood... gut

[Selfbowman]

I would get three bows from those staves and not get greedy if it was me. Arvin

[Oldvol]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Very helpful.

[rps3]

I've made some really great bows from sapwood backed osage lately. Dont be afraid to just remove the bark if it helps you get 2 bows out of a stave.

[bradsmith2010]

take the bark off one, and rough it out,,
spray the others for bugs and set aside,
when you finish the first one it will give you a better idea on what you want to do with the others,, leaving the sapwood etc,,
maybe try sapwood on the second one, and the largest take it off,,

[Hamish]

 I have found narrow diameter osage has a tendency to twist in drying if split when green(even if the grain looks straight).

This can be avoided if clamped or tied to a form.

That being said the first osage bows I had were made by my dad from small 1 to 1.5" dia  saplings or branches. Pretty much all sapwood, with the pith included. None of them twisted. They shot pretty darn well.

[bradsmith2010]

I think one of the first bows I made that shot well had sapwood and pith, it was deer hide backed,, very ugly,,, but shot nice,,

[ssrhythm]

take the bark off one, and rough it out,,
spray the others for bugs and set aside,
when you finish the first one it will give you a better idea on what you want to do with the others,, leaving the sapwood etc,,
maybe try sapwood on the second one, and the largest take it off,,

How are you doing this?  Any sapwood exposed on my staves results in checking…preventing this would be awesome.