Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: StickMan47 on January 01, 2014, 08:15:25 pm
-
Well me and the wife went to her Mom's today for New years. She lives in Hilister, Texas, bout an hour from us right in the heart of the Big Thicket! Since I started the bow addiction I find myself always looking for material wherever I go. I'm like a dog if someone holler's "SQUIRREL!" :D So we are driving down this little back road and pass a persons property where they have done some clearing.
(http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/StickMan477/hillisterstavehaul004_zpsd0f8762b.jpg) (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/StickMan477/media/hillisterstavehaul004_zpsd0f8762b.jpg.html)
(http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/StickMan477/hillisterstavehaul003_zps7b7f59e9.jpg) (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/StickMan477/media/hillisterstavehaul003_zps7b7f59e9.jpg.html)
I looked over at the wife and told her we are stopping there on the way back home! Just driving by I could see a huge cedar pushed up in one of the piles! So on the way home we pulled into the property owners driveway and I asked him what he had planned for the piles of wood? He said he was gonna burn them! WHAT???? :o :o I explained that I make primitive bows and asked if he would mind if I gathered some of the pieces. He said to help myself that I could take all I wanted!! Well I was a happy man!! There must be 20 or more of these piles out there and it's mostly oak but I had to check them out. Here's what I got outta there with.
From left to right= mystery wood- 67" long, 3" diameter; Eastern Red Cedar= 70" long, 5-6" diameter; Dogwood- 10' long, 4" diameter; Crepe Myrtle- very straight 78" long, 4" diameter and a smaller one (http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/StickMan477/hillisterstavehaul005_zps93bff898.jpg) (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/StickMan477/media/hillisterstavehaul005_zps93bff898.jpg.html)56" long, 2 1/2" diameter.
end of cedar(http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/StickMan477/hillisterstavehaul008_zpsad213391.jpg) (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/StickMan477/media/hillisterstavehaul008_zpsad213391.jpg.html)
-
Dontcha just love it when no plan comes together. ;)
-
Now for this piece of mystery wood. Location southeast Texas, no leaves present, came from a tree about 18" to 20" diameter (hard to tell cause it was buried in pile) but I do have pic of the mature bark! here she is:
Mature bark:
(http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/StickMan477/hillisterstavehaul001_zps316601ea.jpg) (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/StickMan477/media/hillisterstavehaul001_zps316601ea.jpg.html)
Limb bark, this is from the actual stave:
(http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/StickMan477/hillisterstavehaul006_zps0964a24c.jpg) (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/StickMan477/media/hillisterstavehaul006_zps0964a24c.jpg.html)
Top of tree, how the branches grow:
(http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/StickMan477/hillisterstavehaul002_zpscf4e9df0.jpg) (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/StickMan477/media/hillisterstavehaul002_zpscf4e9df0.jpg.html)
So what do you think?? I should have did a smell test on it since it was still green but didn't think bout it till just now. I went back to property owner and thanked him and he said I was welcome to com e back for more if I wanted! So guess what I'm doing this weekend? Only this time I will have my chainsaw instead of my little "ol bow saw; maybe bring the lowboy too!
-
For sure Don!! I figure what better way to start off the new year!
-
My game plan is to head back this weekend and load up all I can. That crepe myrtle is buried in there and it is meaty! At least 6" diameter pieces on it and straight as all get out. Want some more of that so i can actually get split staves off it.
And then there is this big cedar..... I don't know what my fascination with this wood is, it's like crack for me. I had a cedar sawed into boards from back when hurricane Rita hit us. I still have a ton of that wood left. Dad and I have been making cedar stuff out of it for years now. And now I'm into self bows..... I want to make a bow outta this stuff and I know I should just leave it be, but I can't. My very first bow attempt was ERC and it blew on me. It was my own fault for pulling it too far but it still has some kinda power over me. It's just beautiful wood. I have all the windows and doors inside of my house trimmed out with it. So somebody give me a sweet piece of Osage already so I can fall in love with it instead! >:D
-
looks like some kind of birch maybe?
-
Looks like some type of cherry or plum to me.
-
Thats what I'm leanin towards Bushboy. I'm thinkin Birch too. I'm looking at my tree book now and the closest I found is Sweet Birch but it's not native to Texas. This place where all the trees were cut looked to be old growth stuff. The oaks that were laying down were pretty big and that Cedar was huge. I don't think that area had been logged before. The owner went in and cut the big hardwood and pushed everything else up into piles.
-
Patches: I know for fact that black cherry grows around here, just never have seen one that big before. Book I have says diameter is 1' to 4'. So I guess it's possible. Gonna have to pull some of those twigs at the top off when I go back and see what it smells like. Black cherry has a distinct odor that you can't miss.
-
Kick
If you live in osage country, why not go look for just what you want?
you might be putting a lot of work into a bow that came from a questionable tree if that guy pushed it up with a cat.
Personally, I find that stave huntin has it own rewards, as day well spent in the woods. :)
willie
-
Willie if I had osage around here I'd have a pile of it for sure! I think the closest growing in this area is a little farther west (I've heard Livingston, bout 2 1/2 hours away) and farther north. I have yet to find it growing wild nearby. And yea a day in the woods is always good, whether I find staves or not.
I guess I should have clarified my comment on osage a little better. I was joking around about people sending me some. I got a few staves of it keeping me busy at the moment. I get excited when I find new wood tho! Especially the free stuff!!
-
18 to 20" is about the diameter of a mature black cherry up here in Ontario. Not sure about their size in Texas. Bark looks like black cherry to me.
-
Maybe it's just me wishin that I had a few more hardwoods to pick from locally. Guess if I drove for 2 1/2 days, I would still have a couple of thousand miles to go before I could find a osage stave. Be careful with the chainsaw this weekend, cutting in piles can be full of surprises
willie
-
That is definitely a black cherry.
-
Well Pat I'll take your word on that, you are way more the expert than me. I still can't believe it's as big as it is. It just tears me up that they dozer'd it all up in big piles. It kills me to see good wood going up in smoke! At least I got permission to go back, the land owner said he's been letting people come get whatever they want of it; prolly gettin sawed up for firewood if I had to guess. At least they make their firewood the easy way; all of mine is dried, scrapped, rasped, filed, sanded, and bow shaped! ;D
Thanks for the help everyone, much appreciated!
-
That black cherry will make some great smoking wood.
-
Black cherry for sure, they get really big, here is a 24 incher I cut for flintlock stocks.
The trailer is a 5x8 to give you some perspective.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/loadedlog.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/osage%20cutting/loadedlog.jpg.html)
-
Your almost in my backyard, I see that tree all the time but never figured out what it is, I think some of them have small red fruit this time of year
-
Good haul for you Eric, looks like the little trailer has a load on it! Just curious, what do you do to that log to use it for gun stocks? How is the grain pattern in a piece that big? Reason I ask is if it is some pretty grained wood then I may use the limbs for bow staves and try ti cut the big part of the trunk out of the pile and have it milled into lumber. Don't know if I'm gonna be able to get down to it though.
-
Okie- I never thought about using it to cook with. Thanks for the tip. I will get some for that too!
Newindian- Your north of S.A., so does osage grow readily out that way? I'm just curious where it is here in Texas. I ain't found any yet growing wild.
-
Okie- I never thought about using it to cook with. Thanks for the tip. I will get some for that too!
Newindian- Your north of S.A., so does osage grow readily out that way? I'm just curious where it is here in Texas. I ain't found any yet growing wild.
Yes Sir,
Nice Haul for Sure, here's hoping that Dogwood is Straight Grained...
Bodark starts around New Waverly - Huntsville and runs North along the I45/75 corridor.
Spreadding north and West as it goes.
I live in Houston, but wood hunt all over.
-gus
-
I thought all parts of cherry trees had traces of cyanide except for the flesh of the ripe fruit - Is the wood okay for smoking/cooking? Is the cyanide just in the leaves/pits/bark? Maybe i'm wrong on this.
I found this: dunno if it is that accurate:
http://chemistry.about.com/b/2008/04/12/cyanide-poisoning-from-apples-peaches-cherries-plums-etc.htm
-
never heard of that Bubbles. Guess it might do to try it on the in-laws first huh? ;D Just kidding, I like all my in-laws and would never do that even if I didn't. Thanks for the link though.
-
Im sure a little would be fine. Just don't smoke every meal with cherry chips for the next 10 years. :) I've also heard of the bark being medicinal, but I'm sure, like everything, its all about the dosage.
-
I've heard whispers in the area that if you know where to look there is plenty mainly around streams and other water sources , to date I have yet to see any here although I have been pointed out areas, I see some between here and collage station from the road and have been told there is alot towards Huston
-
I'm up the road from Newindian and yes, we do have it around, it's just scarce this far west. Few fence row plantings and some escapees here and there. East of here toward Bastrop, Granger, an college Station it gets pretty common. You should have bunches of it close to you.