Today's Osage Staves

[Dublin Joe]

These are my first ever osage staves.
 

This one is 58" long and 3 1/2" across.
 

78" x 2 1/4"
 

75" x 1 3/4"
 

I sealed the ends right after taking the pics.

I'll be debarking over the next couple of days but the heat out there is taking the fun out of everything.

If I can borrow some wedges I'll split the big one.

I have a benchtop bandsaw so I'm tempted to cut one of the smaller ones; what do y'all think?

[DVSHUNTER]

I wouldn't cut the logs. I would split them and then debark them. They are pretty small, so I would also keep the sapwood on them. Then let them dry for a year in a controlled low moisture environment. The big log should have two bows on it, but I wouldn't even try for two on the smaller ones. Good luck!

[Pat B]

I have a 2" osage pole I got from Mike McGuire at the Tenn Classic this past spring. I studied it well and sawed it in half lengthwise then bound the two halves back together with thin wood spacers between the two halves. I wrapped then together to keep them from taking on too much reflex. Just the other day I unbound them and remover the bark from one and sealed the back with shellac. I plan to make a hunting weight bow from both, sapwood and all.

[Dublin Joe]

Happiness is:
 

I debarked and split the big one last night.  It split down the center the whole way but not quite in half.  I'm nearly done flattening the bellies and will commence with removing the sapwood later today.

Working the surform on osage is a lot like shredding cheddar, don't you think?

Joel

[John Scifres]

That's a decent looking piece.  I'd make a bendy handle bow, 1" or a touch wider for the middle of the bow through to midlimb and tapering to 1/2" nocks.  Rough it out today and you'll be tillering in a month.  

May I ask why you are rasping the bellies now?

[Dublin Joe]

The log split into two pieces; I resawed the larger of the two into this:

 

and this:

 

After removing sapwood on one end I have this:

 

Man, there's labor involved in this removal stage.

John, I rasped to better see where to resaw.

[Dean Marlow]

That looks like top quality Osage to me. Good luck on the bow that is coming from it. Dean

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

Thoses wide ring make it alot easier .... Ya !

[Roy from Pa]

Joe, that stave with the thick rings, it doesn't look very good. Maybe ya just otta send it to me:)

Very nice, good luck Joe.

[John Scifres]

Got it.  Be careful leaving any of that sapwood on there.  It will certainly check in about 30 seconds  

[walkabout]

very cool, hope you have great luck with these staves.

[red hill]

The shavings and saw dust from osage is very pretty. And it is a lot like shredding cheddar!
Nice staves, Joel.
Stan

[Dublin Joe]

Well, I got one stave down to heartwood and sealed.  Tomorrow I'll finish around the knots, reseal, and set it aside to dry.  At its narrowest it's 1 1/2" across the back so I'm hopeful.

 

 

 

[John Scifres]

I'd go and take those corners off the sides and thin the working section to 3/4" or less.  It'll dry a lot quicker than way.

Here's how I rough out a stave before setting it aside to dry.   Roughout

I have 24 staves I cut in March that are done like this except for the final profile layout that were dry in a couple months.

 

[Dublin Joe]

John, you've got some good staves.  That one on the far right is perfect, no?  I have a newfound appreciation of them after laboring over just one.

Where do you go for your osage?  Is it land you own or a friend or relative?  Do you just hunt them out and cut?  I'm thinking you fell entire trees with a chainsaw, then split with wedges and sledge?

I got mine from my aunt's farm.  There's a stand of a dozen or so that's mixed in with a couple of other species; the cows go there for shade.  It was a little odd to be in the middle of a herd doing my thing.  At one point I went to the outskirts of the stand for what ended up being my bigger piece.  I got to sawing then stood up to wipe off the sweat only to have a full-grown Brahma bull looking me in the eyes from two feet away.  I shooshed him away but vowed to pay better attention in the future.

[Dublin Joe]

I have a pretty good idea now of what goes into preparing osage staves that have been split off a larger log.

Since I had one log and two smaller pieces I want to know more about preparing them.

I could resaw off-center then remove bark and sapwood then let the whole thing dry.

I could remove bark and sapwood all the way around and let the round heartwood dry.

I could let them dry as is, but I'd rather work on them sooner than later.

I've got a pretty good understanding of the flatbow design options but the D-bows are another story; they are all but ignored in TBB and in most postings.  If I have an in-the-round stave of heartwood, I choose and flatten a side which is then the belly, and I tiller the belly?

If you've seen the two smaller pieces near the top of my post I'd love to know what you'd do with them.

Joel

[John Scifres]

1 mile long hedgerows...

 

 

...and good friends with strong backs help.

 

Sometimes I make my son help.

  Wood 2009  

 

[John Scifres]

Personally, I'd make walking sticks out of the smaller pieces but I've got lots of wood.  Saplings or limbs that small are a challenge.  They are inevitably full of pins and knots and rarely have enough wood to provide any options.  You just have to do what the wood will allow.  That's wonderful in its own right but I've had minimal success with it.

Resawing is not usually the best way to safely harvest a stave from osage.  It can be done but I prefer freehand sawing.

[scrub-buster]

Don't forget to watch for good second growth osage.  It can be great.