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Author Topic: Fresh harvest  (Read 5443 times)

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Offline Aaron H

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Fresh harvest
« on: January 10, 2015, 08:38:12 am »
I found a few good trees and decided what better way to spend New Years day than harvesting some bow staves.  I found a good straight 10" diameter juniperus virginianas trunk and ended up getting 7 good straight knot free staves out of it.  Now I know the sapwood is pretty thick, but with the other juniper bows I have made I have always had to reduce them down to leave about 1/4" sapwood anyway, this one will just take more drawknife work.
Now to the good stuff,  this was the straightest nicest osage tree I personally have ever seen.  She was 9"  in diameter and straight as an arrow for 7'.  I split that one up and got 9 really nice pieces with med. rings. Now comes the hard part, waiting.
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Offline Aaron H

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2015, 08:42:39 am »
Oh yea, and these two trees were about fifteen feet apart.
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Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2015, 08:50:20 am »
Nice haul.  Those are some straight and clean staves.
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I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline Badly Bent

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2015, 08:55:29 am »
and it looks like they were close to the road as well.  8)
Nice staves Falcon, any tree that is good bow wood growing that straight and clean that close to a road and visible,....... well is just asking to be cut, split and made into bows. ;)
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I ain't broke but I'm badly bent.

Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2015, 09:01:12 am »
Very nice. Enjoy. Jawge
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Offline Aaron H

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2015, 09:18:17 am »
Quote from: Badly Bent on January 10, 2015, 08:55:29 am
and it looks like they were close to the road as well.  8)
Nice staves Falcon, any tree that is good bow wood growing that straight and clean that close to a road and visible,....... well is just asking to be cut, split and made into bows. ;)
and that is exactly how it happened, I was just walking down that road a few weeks ago and I saw that juniper and thought, well that's as good as split up already.  It wasn't until I returned with my gear that I saw the osage right next to it.  Jackpot!
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Offline mwosborn

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2015, 09:19:12 am »
Those are some great looking staves!
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Enjoy the hunt!  Mitch

Offline Aaron H

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2015, 09:25:34 am »
Those osage staves are all about 6' and the juniper are about 7' long.  Leaves with a little to trim off the ends per any unseen flaws.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2015, 10:01:17 am by Falcon »
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Offline ajooter

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2015, 10:45:16 am »
Drool!! :P
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2015, 10:51:53 am »
Very nice find and harvest. If the ERC heartwood isn't thick enough on any of those staves you can build a nice bow with just ERC sapwood. I shot one a few year ago that was all sapwood, pulled 45# and shoot very well and was quite zippy. Having a little heartwood in the handle and down the belly of each limb makes a very cool looking bow also.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline wizardgoat

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2015, 11:15:40 am »
Ohhhhhhhhhhh
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blackhawk

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2015, 11:28:04 am »
 Now THATS bow wood right there. You can make anything ya want out of those. Good find and haul. I'd take that over 200 mediocre staves any day of the week.
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Offline Aaron H

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2015, 12:01:36 pm »
Pat -Each of the juniper staves I split so that the heartwood cross section measured about 2-2 1/2" across.  That is why I only got 7 pieces from a 10" trunk.  I have only built a few erc bows, and each of them I have trimmed down to about 1/4" sapwood and the rest heartwood.  I did this because I knew it was possible to build an all/mostly sapwood bow, but heard from numerous resources that are susceptible to taking more set.

Thanks guys
« Last Edit: January 10, 2015, 12:42:47 pm by Falcon »
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Offline Sidewinder

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2015, 12:20:30 pm »
Good for you Falcon. Those look awesome. Danny
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"You know a tree by the fruit it bears"   God

Offline TimBo

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Re: Fresh harvest
« Reply #14 on: January 10, 2015, 01:14:24 pm »
That's almost TOO easy! 
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