standing dead osage

[Joec123able]

Cut this straight osage a few days ago thats probably been dead for a few decades. Sap wood and bark are gone but the heart wood is solid. It has very straight grain and was the only straight tree on the whole fence row. The only flaw it has is this bug damage, what kind of bugs leave this white powerdery stuff behind and has any one successful used wood with this in it.

[Pat B]

Looks like wood bores. They like to tunnel so you will have to investigate before you you'll know if the damage is limited or extensive.
The wood should make a very good bow if the damage isn't too bad.

[osage outlaw]

I find flat headed borer worms in tunnels like that.  Split off all the damaged wood and hopefully there is some solid gold inside.  Standing dead osage is awesome bow wood.

[Joec123able]

Awesome, I've split the tree in to 5 very large staves. Appears to be a pretty good amount of bug damage but I'm definitely not one to give up lol. I will try getting a clean ring on a stave.

[sleek]

Good luck.

[Pappy]

I love standing dead Osage, bug damage not so much, about all you can do is work it down until the damage is gone, if they didn't bore or tunnel through you are good to go, if they did I would cook brats with it. No way to really tell until you dig into it but I would suggest doing it as soon as you can because them buggers can and probably are still in it. The tracks they left aren't a problem, just work them out, if the tunneled trough it , it's a big problem.
 Pappy

[FilipT]

Seems like osage behaves like dead black locust, you can use it if there is no excessive bug damage, but they are still hard as steel even after years of being dead.

[Joec123able]

Yea osage doesn't seem to rot much at all. I'm gonna at least get a few bows outta this log one way or another. I'll let y'all know how it goes on the first stave.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

If there is a stave or two that have bug holes you can't get rid of. Just incorporate the holes so they are not on the edge sand the edges smooth and coat them with super glue. If the holes are deep, then fill them with some sort of powder (wood, horn, antler, it doesn't matter) and super glue then sand it smooth. The powder gives a filler surface for thee super glue to bond to and essentially give lots of tight glue lines instead of one big loose one. Ive done this with a few bows and they've held fine so far. Worst case, the bug holes raise a splinter and break te bow, and you were just going to burn it anyway. Or you could walk away with a bow with some beauty marks.

Kyle

[sleek]

If nothing else, try to get billets out of it.

[stuckinthemud]

Am I the only one worried about bringing borers indoors?

[Joec123able]

The wood is staying outside. So far, I've thrown the first stave to the side. I took a Ton of wood off the back and can't get rid of the deepest check in the wood. Onto the next

[stuckinthemud]

Good luck!

[Cloudfeather]

I'm still making a bow here and there from Osage that was in a field for 60+ years. About an inch worth of rot on the outside, but underneath is the hardest wood I've ever taken my draw knife to. I'm going to be quite sad when I've finally used the last of it. Osage is just some amazing stuff. Hope that one bears some shooters for you.

[Joec123able]

Well sadly this wood is about to all hit the burn pit which is unfortunate because the wood itself is great and nice and straight but the bug damage is just terrible. This trees probably been dead longer than I think. If It wasnt for the bug damage it would be great.