Good haul

[Allyn T]

Finally cut some Osage with good rings and the right kind of snake. Also cut a hackberry with great rings as well.

[Pat B]

Nice haul.

[TimBo]

That osage looks quite tasty!

[Selfbowman]

Those are good Osage rings!!!!

[superdav95]

That’s nice man.  Wish we had Osage up here.

[Allyn T]

Dave it's hard to find hedge apple worth keeping and you don't know if it's any good till you cut it and get a peek inside. Timbo I'm pretty excited about these ones, had to climb up a sideways trunk to get to this but it was worth it. Thanks Pat : ) Selfbowman I wish I could find some as straight as what you have but I'm happy to have a couple pieces to try to see if hedge is all it's cracked up to be.

[BowEd]

Good score Allyn.Good time of year to slowly dry those staves in the beginning anyway.Especially the hedge.

[Allyn T]

Ed I just seal the ends and throw em on the pile in my basement. Is that what you are talking about? I might debark the hackberry if the bark pops off easy

[BowEd]

I'm one to get excited when I come across some nice staves.I usually debark everything and chase a ring on the hedge.Reduce to 3" wide by 1.5" thick. Shellack the back and stack em on the shelf in my tractor shed.Ends are always pre sealed along the way earlier.Hedge being more dense will take longer to dry,but it's good to dry them slowly in the beginning,because it's a denser wood.In your basement will slow it down good.
The hackberry will dry a lot faster being so much less dense.

Even then a year later they are'nt completely ready to be made into a bow.By that I mean dry enough.I rough them out to a design I want.In general I take them inside where I know the constant humidity is 50% or less.Weight it once.Check the weight 2 weeks later.Then 2 weeks later again.Check 1 week later to see if it has quit losing weight.Then it's close to being ready.Around 9% at the most.
This process has always worked well for me.

The more staves in my inventory gives some staves time to season a good 5 years or more.Those I really like.
I keep a half dozen roughed out bows in the house year round.Any one is ready to be made into a bow at any time.

[gutpile]

oh buddy.. nice stuff .. gonna be a bear getting the bark off though..lol.. gut

[rps3]

Congratulations on the haul. I've finally gotten a few hackberry under my belt, and I think it's my second favorite bow wood, just under osage. I think dean torges recommended using a tool to get a core sample off an osage tree to check the rings. Could save you some time and effort if you're having trouble finding osage with rings you like.

[Allyn T]

Thanks Ed, I think I'll leave the bark on and let it season awhile, I need to get my garage/shop cleaned up and organized so I can do some bow work. Gut it can't be any worse than winter cut seasoned shagbark hickory, that stuff is a butt kicker. Rps I'm excited to try the hackberry I've heard good things.

[SDBurntStick]

Nice.  I cut some osage and hackberry here recently too.  The hackberry seems like really lightweight wood but looks like it makes a good bow.  Excited to see what you do with it.  Keep us posted.

[gutpile]

your call on leaving bark on but if you do remove bark on osage, take the sapwood off too or it will send checks right down through the heartwood.. gut

[Selfbowman]

If I am harvesting Osage which I seldom do. I cut a small pie shape piece out at the base of the trunk . If the rings are not to my liking I leave it standing and go to another tree.