Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: redboard on May 05, 2014, 12:24:43 pm
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I found two Osage trees on my buddy's ranch...I think. Its got the right bark, the right leaves, the tufty-tufts before the fruit, orange wood. A dead 3 inch branch almost flipped over my 4-wheeler. But try as I may I could not find ONE thorn?
I really don't know what else It could be.
No pics unfortunately, but has anyone heard of an Osage with no thorns?
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Mulberry?
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wrong leaves for Mulberry...
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I don't know of any other species with yellow'ish wood. Must be osage.
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Either way I'm cutting some. I literally could not break a dead 1" branch off of the trunk, the thing whipped back fast enough to break a bone...and I'm pretty strong. I had to snap a little bitty branch to see what color the wood was.
One of the trees is halfway down and there are at least 50 6-8" limbs shooting straight up 10 feet or more off the horizontal trunk
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Most cultivars of various trees are selected through random mutations. Even if the trees you have are not actually selected cultivars, the thornless trait is clearly present in the Osage population.
http://shade-trees.tripod.com/families/selections/osage_orange.html
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I've seen a few osage trees with little or no thorns and I've seen covered in thorns , some of the older osage I've cut had thorns on the outer most new growth branches and very few elsewhere on the tree .
Pic would help .
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Well give us some freakin pics !!!!
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Years ago I gave away most of the best osage tree I ever cut thinking it was mulberry because it didn't have thorns. I went back to the stump the following year and every sprout was covered up with thorns, bummer.
This past year I found this tree, no thorns but knew better this time, turned out to be some mighty fine osage.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/bridgeosagetree_zpsd4d6f0b6.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/osage%20cutting/bridgeosagetree_zpsd4d6f0b6.jpg.html)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/bridgeosageloadedlogs_zps6e11d427.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/osage%20cutting/bridgeosageloadedlogs_zps6e11d427.jpg.html)
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sorry fellas, didn't have my phone when I found them and its a 25 minute drive to the ranch, 20 more minutes on the 4-wheeler to get to the trees...so no pics will be forthcoming.
I'll bring my Nikon though when I go and cut some!
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Most of the osage around me dont have any significant thorns.... Brian
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I've seen a lot of hedge/osage without thorns. That should not be a qualifier.
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Dang, that's some thick sapwood eric! Looks like an inch in the photo, but it might be perspective or something.
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In Asia they use an Osage/Mulberry hybrid as an ornamental. Not likely to be a naturally occurring cross I would think.
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I've seen a few osage trees with little or no thorns and I've seen covered in thorns , some of the older osage I've cut had thorns on the outer most new growth branches and very few elsewhere on the tree .
Pic would help .
Same here. Makes them much easier to process when they dont have thorns. I cut an osage cluster a few years ago that had 3-8" trees coming from the same sprout and every branch on those trees were covered in thorns. Wouldnt have been a big deal if it were in the woods and the top could have been left but it was in a womans yard and all the debris had to be cleaned up and hauled off >:(. I would cut all those 8" vertical limbs and leave the trunk so it can keep growing more, they will make great bows.
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Yep, that sapwood is the thickest I have ever seen on osage. To save work I split it as well as the top heartwood ring or two off, just like I would when removing a core split.
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Eric Im starting to do that more than ever on any stave deep enough to let me. Im tired of yanking sapwood off osage. A good screwdriver and a hammer work much better.
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Eric Im starting to do that more than ever on any stave deep enough to let me. Im tired of yanking sapwood off osage. A good screwdriver and a hammer work much better.
I've started taking it off with the bandsaw. I'm really getting lazy. ::)