Zbearclaw, this is just my take on it, and since you asked I’ll try to give it a shot. Ice cream stores have many flavors, to each his own. As for bow wood, I’ll have the one that starts out shining like a new gold coin, then over time turns coffee color. Here are a few random reasons, in addition to those beautiful bow pictures, why osage grows on me. Dentures from osage allowed General Washington to chew his food, which gave him energy to lead the army that beat a World power. Families by the thousands were once raised in East Texas houses built on solid osage foundations. Rings of chartreuse softballs under hedge trees to me are as much a part of Fall as geese flying south. Picking up this arrowhead size block of osage I keep on my computer takes me right back to the time I sawed it off the end of a stave that deserved better than my bow making skills. Only my last reason is about a bent stick, but I second all the positive comments about osage as bow wood. Besides making great bows, there is just something about osage that speaks to me like no other wood. Not everyone will or needs to understand this. Guess it just comes down to that “Ginger” or “Mary Ann” debate from my generation (yes boys and girls, there once was a TV tale about castaways on an island before “Lost” came along!). John