harvesting osage orange

[Osagetree]

Thank you Mr. Mims I love a good rebuttal. Besides everyone knows I don't use a chainsaw to gather my osage just a big old hand saw I sharpen with metal file and set the teeth witha cresent wrench. If I can do it to a 45 year old osage you know it can be done by anyone else.

We must have both been writting the above at about the same time.

Sorry, I would not want to discourage anyone!

[DCM]

I thought I remembered you were the one.  I envy your saw, your skill and your heritage.  I imagine we have a whole lot more in common than differences.  You strike me as a man "who keeps a sharp ax."  I looked but had trouble navigating your link earlier.  That was a great thread, seems many moons ago now.

"Nothing is harder than the will of man..."

Great quote.  Accounts for a lot in our lives too, often more than we would concede.  But then that same nature... bullheadedness if you will, is what put us on this trail to begin with.

[Art B]

Since we don't have a lot of Osage locally, and have never cut any personally, you may want to disregard anything I say  :D  . Being stave free at the moment, I can't afford to pi$$ anybody off so I'm going to take the middle road here    .

So you guys that cut your own wood in one local may have different experiences than someone in another part of the country. Something to think about anyhow.

For you guys that have an over abuntant supply of Osage, anybody looking for a new best bud?     ART

[DCM]

Art email me your snailmail address.  Someday a stick 'o dis osage liable take a notion of wanderlust towards a rising sun.

[email protected]

I've been scouting for this years cutting but haven't found one I fancied, other than a mockernut.  I shy from the big stuff anymore, preferring in the 8" to 10" size.  I have seen like you describe, fat ringed osage from a field edge.  Also that wretched twisted stuff from up on the ridges.  I have seen one specimen from Oklahoma near as red as Santa's britches, and it was hard and heavy for sure.

[bowur]

thanks for all the replys, Im hopefully gonna cut some trees down this week. How thin do you make your osage bows?

[Art B]

Thanks David, I'll be hollering at you soon.

Boy, I prize a good piece of hickory as much as the next man! We got plenty of the stuff on our property but I can't swing the ol' saw anymore. My ailment seems to affect all the young folk around here as well. Sign of the times!

bowur, depending on length, 1 1/2" (shorter bows) to 1 1/4" (longer) is pretty standard. That'll get you started, you'll pick up on some of the other variables as you proceed. ART

[Osagetree]

My photobucket was down or my computer would not let me get there or I would have posted these pics earlier for some encouragement.


Osage,,, big or small, I got my saw!

For a smother, easier cut carry some kerosene for cutting the sap of your saw blade!
 

 

At least DCM has his wife to help do the work and appearently splits them where he cuts'em. Carrying the big osage and getting it into my jeep myself was not easy!
 

 

[danno]

There are some osage trees in the C&O Canal National Park that are 4-6 feet in diameter near White's Ferry, MD. One of the rangers talked about rumors that George Washington planted the hedge row.  That would make them up to 250 years old.  I looked in my hard drive, but don't have any pictures of the biggest trees.  If it was private land, it would still take a serious woodcutter with a pro saw to take down a tree like that.

[frank bullitt]

Yes, the story told is the settlers planted for live fence rows! I have also cut my share of "hedge" and fire wood growing up.

No matter what or how, make sure to be safe!

All trees, especially leaners, blowing in the wind, are under tension. When cut, you unleash that tension.

I have had 2 classmates in the past 5 years, lose the lives to trees. And a young man, locally, was helping friends remove a tree after a storm, and was killed when the tree kicked back.

Be safe! Osage is great! Oh, and leave a stump and come back in about 5 years or more, and you got some shoots to use for the kids!

[bigcountry]

Myself, I have found dead dried hickory or dogwood to be much tougher on saws, be it a chainsaw or bandsaw, than osage.  Not much that will dull a blade faster than dried hickory IMO.

[scrub-buster]

400 year old osage (if it even existed) would make poor bow wood.  Thin Rings!

[dan rothrock]

I never had too much trouble with a chainsaw either.  Had a couple that got hot and trashed my blade, it was a little dull to begin with though.  A logger told me he would adjust the angle of the blade edge for hard woods like osage.  He's been cuttin the stuff for 60 years so I suspect he knows what he is talking about, but I never did and didn't have much trouble with it.  

When I was about 12 I decided to make a bow out one growin next to a ditch. I used a bow saw (which broke) and an axe.  I managed to get through it...chainsaw is much easier.  Just make sure you start with a sharp blade and don't run it in the dirt.

[dan rothrock]

DCM,  Anytime you find a leaning tree and you don't want it to split up the middle, you have to cut it different.  You have to "drill cut" from the center out, not towards the notch.  Works everytime. Most leaning trees will split if you don't, unfortunately.

[bowur]

I cut down the osage this weekend. It was actually around 100 years old I'd say, but it was actually pretty easy to cut down with just an axe. took like 10 minutes for a tree maybe 6" in diameter

[Diamondback59]

6  in osage id say 15  20 year s tops   but glad ya got it   look at ur early eood late wood rito ull know what ya got easey   brock

[bowur]

ya the tree i cut was pretty young, but they had some that were like 3-4 feet in diameter. All of the big ones I couldnt cut because the branches were all tangled really bad

[DCM]

Good deal bowur.  Sometimes you just gotta take matters in hand.  If abo man could do it with a sharp rock... well you get my point.

Dan I've heard that called a plunge cut I reckon, and while at the time I did not consider it in hindsight I have.  I'm not a sawyer by a long shot, so I am a little reluctant to try it because of kick back.  But if you think about it, it's only the first inch or so of the cut that will get you in trouble.  I thought about posting this, but decided against it.  Only a handful of guys would likely have the stuff to do this safely, and they don't need advice from me.

I do wonder though, do you make a small relief cut, plunge above it and come out the top, leaving a little tag just above the relief.  Seems like you'd need that to avoid pinch on the plunge cut.  Or I suppose you could just start with the plunge, leaving a little tag on the bottom, and then come in from the top down to the plunge and let the tag hang.

[dan rothrock]

Establish a notch on the 'lean side', plunge your saw behind the notch leaving a hinge, cutting towards the opposite direction of the notch. Maybe there is some difficulty in drill cuting, I have been cuttin wood so long I really don't notice. Instead of initially driving the tip straight in the tree, angle a little bit to get a good hole started then turn the saw back perpendicular then drive it all the way through.