Osage to swap

[jlw]

I cut two nice osage trunks, one is straight but the other has a twist. I have split them, sealed the ends and debarked one, will do the other in the next few days. I am not a bowyer but would like to see if anyone would like to have the wood in exchange for giving me back one bow from it. I think that there should be at least four or six full staves in one and twice the number of billets in the other. i have a couple of pictures but haven't puzzled out how to insert them yet.

[Art B]

Debarking green Osage isn't good enough. You need to remove the white sapwood and then seal the heartwood along with the ends. You might want to check on your staves. Hope you're not too late! Art

[Pat B]

I agree with Art!

[jlw]

I read a lot in the traditional bowyers bible, but didnt check back and obviously got it confused. here is the score. 4 staves. two debarked with about half of the sapwood off. Two not debarked. all with ends sealed. One of the debarked has a couple of longitudinal splits that may be serious. all of the others seem ok. I finished debarking and peeling off the white wood on two of the other three. left one with the bark on and sealed all of the surfaces with polyurethane. Looks like I have one very good piece about 7feet long with a few pins, no knots and little if any twist. Its mate has some long splits, may still have a bow or two in it. Two 7foot pieces with a knot or two and about a 50%twist. Is the offer to swap the wood for a bow reasonable if the wood is good. How many staves is a trade for the making of a bow?

[John Cooper]

It's kind of an all-or-nothing proposition.  You either need to take all the sapwood down to a growth ring in the heartwood and put some sealer on it...or leave all the bark on and still seal the ends.  It might not be too late if the checks have only gone down through the sapwood.  You might want to take a couple pictures including a clear close-up of the ends next to a ruler.  I usually tell people who want me to make them a bow from a stave that I'll take the "market" price of a stave off the finished price of a bow.  It all depends on who you're talking to...or you could just wait a year and start making one yourself.  ;-)

John

[jlw]

I should be used to it but I hate to sound dumb. how do I get a pic onto this site? I tried cut and paste, I dont see an "add file" button.

[Art B]

To give yourself some working time you could perhaps wrap the ones that still have some sapwood on them with shrink wrap or wrap in garbage bags. Anything that will hold the moisture in.

You can have a bow by this fall if you would go ahead and reduce a stave to rough bow demensions. Keep the roughed out bow completely sealed at first. Whether you get someone else to make you a bow or you decide to attemp one yourself you will at least get a head start on the drying process. Not to mention, saving some shipping cost if your go that route......Art

[ranger 3]

Put it in photo bucket and once it is there put your cursor over it and a drop box will drop down. Put your cursor on the bottom line and right click and coppy. Then come to this site and right click paste.

[jlw]

Hmmm. Did this work?

[Art B]

Can you re-size and make your pic larger?

[jlw]

 
there are the photos of the wood. Osage orange seems to be pretty rare around here.

[jlw]

No it pixelates too much. I will have to get it out again and take another photo. Not today though. The largest piece is about 4" dia.

[Roy from Pa]

On photobucket, put your mouse over the picture you want, then a drop down menu pops up. Click on the bottom box that says IMG. It should say copied when you click on it. Then come back here and right click and paste into where you type. You can then click preview and see how it looks before you submit the post.


 

[jlw]

thanks, I screwed up a little on the sizing. One too big and the other to small. On the average, it is ok.

[Roy from Pa]

You can go back and edit your posts here anytime you like.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Just from what I can see in the pics, it's either the lighting or I'm not real sure that it's actually Osage? Can't tell enough from the wood side of the pics.
Not saying your tree ID is wrong, I just can't get a good enough look at em to tell.