Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Cloudfeather on October 01, 2017, 01:05:57 pm
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Checked into an ad on CL a few months back about Osage firewood. Landowner was removing a bunch of Osage trees, I talked them into topping the trees and letting the main trunks stand. Went to score some yesterday.
I jokingly scolded the guy for false advertising when I got there because the trees were enormous. Luckily, I brought equipment and we got to cutting and splitting. I had my Stihl 038 Mag with a 24" bar buried in a couple of the trunks. It ate through it like butter and hardly flinched at the load. Going back next weekend for more. :)
My ends are sealed well with wood glue and I've got my pieces stacked bark side up. Anyone think I should cover with a tarp or leave them as is? I'm in Ohio, so the weather is mild, and I don't have much issue with bugs. Though, I'm going to spray them anyway, to be on the safe side. Thanks.
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That is a nice haul. :OK The weather is starting to get right for cutting wood. Are those cherry logs on the right side of that one pic?
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Yes, sir. Huge black cherry windfall. Getting slabbed up for cutting boards and whatnot.
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Very nice haul! How are the rings?
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The rings are all pretty good ratio and decent thickness. 1/8" or better average.
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Never cover bow wood with a tarp, especially close to the ground. It traps moisture under there with the wood along with mold and mildew and speeds decay.
Definitely spray them all over with a good insecticide. I was given a bunch of osage in Ohio several years ago. They were logs laying on the ground for less than a year and were riddled with borers.
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Ohio osage is good stuff!
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That's awesome! Great haul!
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Nice... yeah, never a tarp... I've seen too much good Yew spoiled by tarps >:(
Del
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I'd also suggest not to leave the logs directly in contact with home walls
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Very nice haul of osage there.I know it's more work and time consuming but taking the bark and sapwood off to bow sized staves and shellacking them ends and back will save you trouble when dried and a bow is desired from them.The wood wasps or bores will come if enough warm weather is allowed for them to work.Below 32 degrees not so urgent.
I occasionally buy large corner post logs of 15" or larger here and do that procedure with them and hav'nt been disappointed.Left them alone too this time of year and the wood wasps got in there too.While fresh it removes easier too as you might know.
Still a very nice haul.What they call wood gold!!!!Congrats!!!
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BowEd - I've kept Osage stored outside, ends sealed good and sprayed with pesticide, never any issues. Granted, I'm sure I'll be into it and splitting it before too long anyway. Lol
GlisGlis - I'm going to put a couple 2x4s against the wall for them to prop against, so there's not direct contact. Thanks for the advice.
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Looks real nice! Where are you in the state?
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Keep it out of the sun or it will turn into a pile of snakes. I put a huge pile on the south side of my shop not knowing better, the sun warped it all and made the whole pile firewood.
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Yep, that looks good -- lucky dog!
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Went back for another haul yesterday. Even better than the first. There's still one more giant tree there that I'll hopefully be able to go back for. Hate to let anything go to waste.
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Did you happen to count the rings as to how old the tree was?
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I gave it a quick count. The largest trees were a bit over 100. The 'medium' trees were around 80ish.
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Yep that's an oldie.....I've got a friend bow maker that ran across a large tree like that a farmer was going to destroy.He liked making laminated bows too.He had them edge grain cut into 2" wide boards /stacked/and dried them.Very nice stuff for BBO's.Anytime I want to make one he's very gracious about supplying me with some.
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I have heard one of the best ways to store big logs like that is to knock a few belly splits off of them, and then ship them to Utah for seasoning. I would be happy to help you out that way (-S
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This is what I've got so far. There was one more big tree that could yield about 8 or so big quarters. Trying to make one last trip to finish the deal.
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Brother, if you can keep the bugs out of them, you got one heck of a supply of bow staves. Pretty sure that would last me a decade or more unless I'm mis-judging those splits.
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They're drenched in insecticide. I've never really had much issue with bugs in my area, at least not with Osage. Going to get splitting in a few weeks when I have my week off.