Osage bark color?

[okie64]

I cut this osage yesterday in an old creek bottom that my dad told me about. There were tons of osage trees in there but the bark looked totally different than any I've ever seen around here. Most of the osage I've seen around here has kinda gray colored bark but these were really light brown colored. I'm sure it probably doesnt matter I was just curious if anyone knew why it would be colored different like this?
 

[Roy from Pa]

Okie, that looks like bad Osage, maybe ya just should send it to me:)

[red hill]

As long as the inside is yellow I wouldn't worry too much, okie.
Now that there looks too straight for a honest to goodness home made osage bow.
Stan

[1oldbowguy]

okie, pay no never mind to Roy, just send it to me or better yet I will come pick it up.  Just a thought.  The bark sure looks like what I see most of down here, sometimes a bit darker and then even lighter.  Very nice looking congrats.

[scrub-buster]

That looks fine to me.  Young osage looks like that.  If it was near a creek bed, I bet it has nice rings.  How about a picture of the end.

[okie64]

Heres a pic of the rings. Kinda thin in spots but most of them are pretty good. There was one osage stump in this same place with around 15 straight trunks coming up out of it,I was by myself so I didnt feel froggy enough to take that one down.
 

[StoneAK]

Looks good its hard to find osage out here where I live. I am going to have to just buy some or have you send me some lol  

[Goose Gossett]

Seal those ends and next time you need help carrying out some trees let me know.  Send me a PM for real if you need some extra manpower because I'm sure I can wrangle some other fellas that I've given the bow building bug to.  Other than that we need to meet up and work on some bows together.

[CaptainJ]

Beautiful!

Good grief, how long is that log?
Looks like 10-12 feet if that maul is standard.
Some nice fat rings deep in on that one.

CJ

[okie64]

Goose, the ends are sealed with wood glue and I will send you a pm.

CJ, that is a standard splittin maul and the log is a little over 10 feet. This tree was growin in some pretty dense cover so it was shootin straight up. The osage that grows out in the open around here is almost always really crooked and not much good for adult bows. You gotta get in the thick stuff and hunt for the straight ones.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

The soil that you find them growing in has a whole lot to do with what the bark looks like and how big or small the rings are. That along with age of the tree and how fast it's grown.

Judging from the rings and my own personal experience cutting hedge here where I live I'd say that one was growing slow in fairly poor soil? Thicker rings indicate a wetter year or better soil, thinner rings indicate a dry year and poor soil.

You see how the rings are big for about the first 8 years or so when the tree was young, then as it got bigger and had more tree to take care of and supply moisture to all the branches and leaves, the rings got smaller because the tree was taking more out of the soil in the form of water and nutrients.

The hedge that I cut that's close to the river or in the flood plain where it gets lots of moisture and good bottom land soil has huge rings, are more straight, and the trees get monstrous. The ones I've cut up on rocky ground away from good soil and moisture where most of the rain runs off tend to be skinnier, more crooked, and the rings are tight.

I'm not a botanist or anything, that's just my personal experience with what I've cut here around our place.

Looks just fine to me though, should make some nice bows.

[okie64]

Makes sense to me Semo. I have noticed the osage I've cut in the river bottoms to have much thicker rings.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Okie, you'll learn to recognize the features in the rings and actually be able to see the good years and the bad years. I have even found one that had a really dark almost black ring deep inside that I kind of determined must have been a fire that year. It's amazing what trees go through over the years and the rings have a story to tell if you pay attention.

There's also been some discussion on thick rings versus thin rings. The consensus seems to be that thick rings are more forgiving, but slower. Thin rings are harder to work, but make a faster bow. I like em somewhere in the middle about 1/16th inch thick is perfect for me. That log you cut is what I call perfect for what I like to work with.

This area right here between the red arrows is what I look for. The section inside the red circle is what I would personally consider the pick stave out of this log. If I'm building a bow for myself, this is what I'm looking for.

 

[okie64]

Of the osage bows I have made, none of them had rings thicker than 1/16 and some were thinner than that. I've chased some rings that have really tested my patience. Right now I'm chasin some really small ones on an osage stave that I plan on makin a little indian bow out of. I've seen some guys post pics of osage staves on here that the rings look like they are 1/4" thick! That would be nice for a change.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I got some of those out of the last batch of Osage I cut down, the rings were 1/4" thick on some of the staves. They are great for new bowyers just starting to get into making their own selfbows because the rings are so big a blind man could chase one. I do believe they make the bow a bit sluggish though......just my opinion.

If you take the time to make a finished bow out of a stave with tight rings you'll end up with a nice one.

[DLH]

The creek could have flooded and have mud on the bark I had some river cane that done that but this might not be the case.

[okie64]

That makes pretty good sense DLH. I didnt think about that, but I know 2-3 years ago we had a major flood and that creek was way up out of its banks, probably almost to the top of that tree.

Semo, It would seem to me that thicker rings would be better for building high-poundage bows like in the 70-80 pound range. If the latewood rings are thicker it should mean the wood would be more dense than normal. Maybe thats why thicker ringed bows seem more sluggish, it would be almost like they were overbuilt if their poundage were too light.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

That's exactly how it feels to me. Like it's over built and you don't get that "Snap" at the shot like with thinner rings. You make a good point that the thicker ring bows would be more well suited for a higher poundage bow, which I have not made yet. The highest wt. bow I've made so far was low 50's.

[okie64]

I've got one osage bow that is close to 70#, doesnt have thick rings though, but man does it shoot hard with not nearly as much handshock as you would think. Thick rings or thin, osage is some great stuff.

[Art B]

Thick rings to me, is an indication of quick rapid growth, which produces less dense wood IMO. Or at least that's been my experience with Osage. But then again, you'll find very good large ringed growth stuff and crappy large ringed Osage. Unfortunately, I've had to work with the latter here lately. And let me tell, the stuff really sucks.......Art