Harvesting osage??

[RedTx]

How do you do it.  I have hundreds of trees to choice from.  What am I looking for? After I harvest what do I do with.  I hear people saw seal it?  Seal it with what, and what do you mean when you say seal it?

Just looking for some helpLike I said I just want to know how.

[4runr]

Find a nice, straight, 8 to 10 inch trunk somewhere around 6 ft long. Make sure you look at the bark before you decide on a tree. The bark of Osage has a criss-cross pattern to it, make sure it doesn't twist around the tree. Cut it down and take some shalac or wood glue and liberaly coat the ends of the trunk. As soon as you can, split it into staves, they will be wedge shaped, around 2-3 inches at the wide part.
After you split your staves, take a draw knife and remove the bark and sapwood, then shalac the back of the stave. If you have time, now would also be a good time to chase a ring, as it's easier than when it dries. If you chase a ring now, be sure to coat the back really, really well.

[John Scifres]

If you want to make an osage bow, buy Dean Torges' book "Hunting the Osage Bow".  Everything you need is there.  www.bowyersedge.com

[nugget]

4runr is right in. Hey Redtx I am an osage nut. If you got too much or don't know what to do with it I would love for ya to send it my way.

[ChristopherO]

I agree with John, read about it before breaking your back.  I harvested quite a few staves of osage last Saturday for the first time.  But I've read the chapter Traditional Bower's Bible 1 a few times to aclimate myself to what to look for.  There should be a few good bows in there but it is quite a bit of work.

[Sidewinder]

I highly recommend Dean Torges book. The section on harvesting is chock full of how to and great practical wisdom. A buddy of mine and I sucessfully harvested a large diameter osage a couple months back and it worked out well. I would say though I don't think it is good forrest stewardship to take a whole tree for 1 or 2 bows so I prefer to be choosy about what I would take. The bark twist is a good indicator. You will probabely look at several hundred tree until you find one thats worthy but its worth it. Like everything else in this hobby patience is a virtue.