Author Topic: second growth osage (Read 4916 times)

yazoo · « **on:** January 28, 2009, 12:35:57 am »

what do you think of second growth osage,such as where a tree has blown over and a shoot grows up , or a very fast growing shoot, trash or treasure? or what about a very large and old osage, I split one today almost 30 in dia, had lots of inside splits in it.

George Tsoukalas · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2009, 12:50:36 am »

One of the fastest bows I ever made was from an osage sucker- 1 1/4 in. wide with a sapwood back. Jawge

Shooter_G22 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 28, 2009, 01:35:04 am »

i got one last tuesday...

i was comming home from work and out of the corner of my eye i saw it... it was two osage tree's standing there side by side and they were at the edge of an open field out by the side of the road around a new devolopment in North Richland hills Tx... close to the new school we are building... "BIG SCHOOL" anyway on of the trees had been cut at the base like where two main trees were comming out into a Y and on of the Y limbs had been cut serveral yres ago... and the stump had several straight saplings shooting straight up and out of the side of this stump.... well i decided to grab one... soo i took out my little hand saw i bought at a dollar store and went to work geting all scratched to hell from all the thorns from all the little shrub growth around the sapling i wanted...

well needless to say i have the thing already ruffed out an then i went ahead and started trying to tiller it... and got a basic tiller on it... and i just got finished toasting hte belly... man i wish this thing was allready dry soo i could finish her up and start to shoot it... the stave was straight but not that straight soo it did have a bend here and tehre but i was able to see a bow in it and cut it out its a shorty like i like em and it had a natural recurve just soo happnes that when i cut the lenght it was cut right where the stave curve and then teh bottom curved in the same direction making the ruff out bow look like a natural recurve... sooo i just went ahead and shaped it out that way and of coarse as i thinned the tips it was easier to curve the limb tips in the direction of the recurve....

this little bow has turned out ok soo far... and i really like it... i hope it dont break... i almost want to send it away and have someody send it back a yr form now so i can finish her out im afrais if i keep it here im going ot keep messing with it...

its not going ot turn out a heavy draw but i think it will be a fast little shooter and a good little critter bow... and its going ot be a light wieght and shorty... i really like it... i will see about posting some pics of it if i can get some descant pics tomorrow..

this is the first one i have done like this and i wish i knew how i could dry here out fast soo i could finish her up...

Pappy · « **Reply #3 on:** January 28, 2009, 06:45:59 am »

I have made several bows from Osage suckers and they made great bows.Some with sap wood on and some that had enough heart wood I took down to a ring.

Pappy

TRACY · « **Reply #4 on:** January 28, 2009, 08:48:34 am »

I've used a few large trees in the past and probably has as much unusable wood as staves after dealing with all of the wind checks and ant pockets. As for second growth, I like it really well and have cut on trees that I cut to stumps 20 years prior.

Tracy

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Tilbilly · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2009, 09:00:04 am »

I envy you guys. We don't have the climate to properly grow it up here. Beautiful wood.

Eric Krewson · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2009, 10:01:17 am »

My current personal bow is made from a sprout stave, full of knots but a great performer. I have about 20 sprout staves and billets a friend gave to me when he decided to quit bow making. All are full of pins, every few inches but straight with great rings. From my experience with sprouts in the past I expect great things from these staves. They came from 4" to 6" sprouts.

Really big logs have been a disappointment for me in the past.
This tree had chalky wood in it and produced few usable staves if any, most went to the burn pile along with the rest of it in the second picture.

cowboy · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2009, 11:08:06 am »

I haven't made one from a sprout yet but have a few curing in the shed. I figure if it's osage it's good all around. Them are some good log pictures guys - making me wanna fire up the chain saw

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coyote pup · « **Reply #8 on:** January 28, 2009, 11:31:36 am »

Jawge, that bow you made from an osage sucker, what kind of cross-section did it have? Oval or half-circle with the belly flat?

Thanks

Pappy · « **Reply #9 on:** January 28, 2009, 11:50:59 am »

The ones I made were half circle with flat bellys.

Pappy

Shooter_G22 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 28, 2009, 12:12:14 pm »

ok gents,

the sucker i got the other day... i think that is the proper term "sucker" is a sappling that grew out of a stump that had been sawed prior right???

anyway this sucker is only maybe 1 1/4" if that and the hart wood or the yellow wood is very thin on the inside and most of the whole ruffed out bow is made of just sap wood or the white wood... the back is just the debarked wood and the belly is jsut shaped flate with the handle left round like a regular branch just debarked...

is this going to make a descant litle critter bow or am i just wasting time here...

plus it has alot of knots on it... im just messing withthis thing becuase i have no descant stave to play with and figure id give this one a try...

cowboy · « **Reply #11 on:** January 28, 2009, 12:20:35 pm »

Shooter, that sounds like it would make a decent critter bow if the back's not too rounded. That's the only thing that has held me up so far is decrowning the back - haven't tried it yet but will

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Dean Marlow · « **Reply #12 on:** January 28, 2009, 12:42:21 pm »

Majority of my character Osage staves comes from second growth trees. Farmers who cut the log out 20 or 30 years ago for posts and didn't spray the stump with a herbicide to kill it will send out new sprouts and in time they turn into some real snakey staves. Dean

yazoo · « **Reply #13 on:** January 28, 2009, 01:37:50 pm »

I cut some second growth osage last week that was 12 in, the wood on these seems to be a lot more dense than from an old tree,its the color of an orange peel,

Postman · « **Reply #14 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:06:04 pm »

I remember some one on here saying that they preferred second growth because a staighter, thicker ringed tree with less limbs would often result from the established root system giving the sucker a fast head start. . I know that often happens on the powerline near my house when they mow down the trees, especially locust.

Primitive Archer