Yuku free message boards

I finally settled on this tree with sister trunks. I've been eyeballing it for 8 years, waiting for the trunks to get long enough to be usable with certainty. It's not without a few flaws, but half of each trunk should be good for full length bow staves.



I tore into it with my chainsaw. Before long, I had it on the ground. If you've never cut trees before, I'd highly recommend you do some research on tree felling. Things will undoubtedly go smoother and you won't be "winging it" with life and limb at risk.



Osage develops drying checks VERY quickly. Often you can watch them form the moment you cut a tree down. To prevent moisture from escaping the exposed ends of the wood, you'll need to seal it right away. Shellac works extremely well. You can get it in a convenient spray can form, but be warned that the nozzles often clog irrepairably after the first use. Spray-on shellac also may not be as effective a sealant as the normal canned variety, since it contains chemical propellants which dilute the purity of the shellac. You can apply canned shellac with a disposible paint brush. Or you can store your shellac in an aftermarket can such as this one (available from lab supply catalogs), which incorporates a screw top lid with a built in brush. In any case, check the condition of your shellac before you head out to the field. Mine had set in the can too long and had gelled. It was worthless and certainly a cause for concern.

As you split the wood, particularly near the end, you'll find "stringers" of osage that have refused to cleanly split. Use your hatchet to cut through these.



At last, with no small amount of effort and alot of sweat, you'll have parted your log in twain. Splitting of course gets easier from here. Try to make all your splits where there are wood flaws, to preserve the cleanest parts for intact bow wood.



Unless you are fortunate enough to be able to pull your truck up right along side of an osage hedge row, the real work is likely to start now, in getting your staves out. After carrying each 20 - 50 lb. log split on my shoulder uphill for 300 yds though thickets that would rip the hide off any whitetail, each one is worth it's weight in gold by the time I reach the top. The uphill journey also causes me to be somewhat selective about what I choose to bring out. Just have to focus on the blue skyline when huffing your way up.



This is what I'm awarded after a few hours of work. Several full-length staves, some of which can be carefully bandsawed into 2 or more staves later, and a pair of billet sized staves for either self or backed bows. A moderate haul like this is comfortable to work with at home. I've brought home bedfulls of osage, and the subsequent time required in debarking and rough prep all at once makes you question why you would choose to do this in your spare time. Since my shellac was dry, I sealed the ends of each stave with molten paraffin as soon as I unloaded them from the truck.

Depending on where you live, wood wasps and other varieties of wood borers could begin to attack your staves through the bark, boring through the sapwood and into the heartwood, and destroying them in short order. To combat the these pests, you can spray the bark with Diazinon, a potent chemical which I, at least, choose to avoid with children in the yard and often under foot while I'm work. Or you can use a drawknife to strip the bark and sapwood from each stave (what the bugs love), and seal the back with several coats of shellac. Stripping the bark and sapwood while wet also saves extra effort that would otherwise be needed later to removed dried and hardened wood. I choose the latter and have been busy working at this stash on and off over the last week. Of course, if you are lucky enough not to have these devils around, you can omit nasty chemicals and still prop your staves in a corner to dry and work on at your leisure.



Hope this may be of some help to new bow wood gatherers! Have fun!