Cutting Osage ?

[ranger 3]

When you cut an Osage tree can you use the limbs and what if there is a limb coming in the middle of the part you what to use.

[Goose Gossett]

Pictures help me see what you would be talking about.  Like splitting around each limb that would be coming out of the trunk?  If so that would become "character" in the bow.  


 
 

Or are you talking more like there is a limb in the middle of your stave like such.

 

Items you can use the limbs for.  Here is a knife I made with an osage handle.  It makes a great scraper and really simple to do.

 

[John Scifres]

Limb bows are cool.  Hard to make but cool.  If there is a knot in the limb stave, you just need to work around it.  That's what makes them hard to make.

Limbs make great walking sticks too.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I will save the bigger limbs that come off the main trunk. Especially if they are 8" around or bigger. The hedge trees around here can get quite huge and some of the limbs that come off the main trunk are bigger in diameter than some main trunks that I've seen on normal sized trees.

If there's good heartwood in it and nice rings they will make just as nice a bow as any other part of the tree.

Try to avoid those double trunks where it looks like two trees or two limbs growing together. You can beat and hammer on those until your muscles ache and only end up with blisters, but no usable bow wood. Been there, done that.
I've even had to use a chain saw to "Help" it along to get it to split.
I'm just not able to go at it like I could when I was 30 anymore so I leave those alone. Otherwise I hurt for several days afterwards.

Most of these logs are limb logs, the main trunk was 3 times as big as these.