Trad Gang

Friend of mine has a lot of osage on his place. I can cut all I want. What do I look for in a tree to cut? How long should I cut the logs? Do I have to split them right away or can it wait?

First wait until winter when the sap is down and there is less moistier in the tree. Look for a tree trunk that is about 7' long and void of knots, limbs or bark grain that twists around the trunk. Don't cut leaning tree's either.

No, you don't need to split the logs but you do need to seal the ends with laquer so the wood doesn't split on the ends. Store in a cool dry place for a year or longer is always better. Not spliting the logs until partially dry will help the staves come out straighter too.

I prefer to split logs at least in half soon after cutting. This will give the internal moisture a place to escape. I also seal the ends. Shellac or carpenters glue works well for sealing also. Winter is definitely the best time to cut osage for lots of reasons; from lower moisture content to less bugs and snakes to deal with...but it can be cut any time of year and if treated properly you could hardly tell the difference.

I have split large halves or quarters of an osage log that have been cut a year or more and found them to be just about as green inside as the day they were cut or 22%+ MC on my pin less moisture meter. I recommend you quarter the logs at least and make bow blanks out of a few so you can start making bows sooner.

Any times the right time to cut osage, there's just more considerations to make. Cutting in the winter is the best by far as mentioned above, less bugs, snakes and sweat. But that may not always be convenient, just means ya gotta either spray the staves with bug killer or de-bark right away. Split staves are a heck of a lot easier to move around by yourself too. You can always leave some logs whole, and work down a few to dry faster. Keep in mind when looking for trees to cut, a straight trunk doesn't always mean straight staves, look at the bark real good, make sure it runs pretty straight, and billets make great bows. When you seal the ends and eventually the backs, multiple coats of sealer is better.

I have noticed that the osage trees that are closer to creek bottoms have better rings than the ones higher up on the hill.  At least on my place.

Creek bottom osage is usually fighting to get some sun, so it grows straight up and has enough water nearby to grow a bit quicker. Makes for some nice staves. I've got my eye on a few that are stove pipe straight, just need a few more years on them.

Richard, alot of good "sage" advice here! From my experience, the old sayings of "good things in life come the hardest", "don't judge a book by the cover", well you get the idea!

 Osage is very forgiving in many ways. Take whatever you can get, when you can get it! I've seen alot of ways work! Quick drying, slow drying, tight grain, leaning trees, billets from different trees, and on and on.

 But the best advice I can give, If you just starting out, a piece of wood that doesn't look good today, may look real promising down the road with more experience under the belt. So don't toss anything, have fun and Good shootin, Steve

Joe, I've never heard about not cutting leaning trees.  Why is that?  I've had my eye on one that I was going to try to cut this winter.  About 15" in diameter, and pretty clear for 7 or 8 ft.  But it is leaning...growing out from a fence on a county road.

Leaning trees tend to develop internal stresses that causes "reaction wood". Sometimes this will work out as a natural reflex. Othertimes...not so much.  :eek:

Reaction wood can be a good thing, just depends on which side of the tree the stave comes from. I never could remember that one.   :confused:      I thought it was the windward or high side, that was good.

QuoteOriginally posted by Paul/KS:
 "reaction wood".  

I didn't know that's what it is called!

Good term........

Also Frank had a really good point about wishing later you could find so good of wood as when you did first starting out. Start with the bad looking staves and save to good ones for when you learn the wood and tools you will use. I still wish I had some of the stuff (Osage) that I screwed up jumping in and learning all by myself.

Never new of the Tradgang until after I had already made some selfbows. This is a great place to learn more and more!

Shawnee, don't discount a leaning tree,,, like Dano said the staves on the top or bottom of the log will have good reflex. It's the other half that will probably have bad string follow. If it leans and the bark kinda twists round the trunk,,, you got a lot  of heat work to straighten those staves out!

I believe it was better to have it from the uphill side. I wish Dean's site was totally rebuilt, because he wrote and article on it.

Ok.  Thanks guys.  The one I've got an eye on has a pretty good lean that is causing the bottom side to curve into some nice looking reflex.  I've cut just enough osage to figure out that looks can be really deceiving, but this tree looks like it will give me some pretty good staves this winter.

I don't know what Dean says about it but I've cut and worked up my share of osage trees and I don't shy from leaners at all.  In fact I seek them out.  The tension side is typcially great wood.  The downside is the staves adjacent the tension wood my tend to warp, and obviously the compression wood is thought to be less desirable.  While I treasure tension wood, I haven't found the compression wood particularly different.  And I can use heat to put the warped stave right.

The reaction wood I've run into was from a tree with twist, not just regular old barber pole effect, rather a fallen or leaning tree where extra, unbalanced weight on one side has caused subsequent rings laid down to be stronger being under more tension than those underlying.  It goes ape****, twisting or warping when you take a ring off or reduce it's width through a critical area as it has "stored" tensions within.  I've had it bind up a bandsaw.  I've seen it in elms too, more frequently actually.

Reaction wood is abnormal wood, on a cellular level. It's called tension wood when it occurs in hardwoods, and forms on the upper side of the lean.  It's characterized by excessive longitudinal shrinkage, and the presence of gelatinous fibers. It holds together tenaciously, to the point of difficulty in sawing and torn grain when planing. It tends to cause twisting.

It's called compression wood in softwoods, and forms on the lower side of the lean. Summerwood bands are abnormally wide, and tend to wash out into the next ring. Compression wood is useless in the lumber industry because it shrinks excessively and breaks up into blocks as it does. Boards will curl right up and develop cross breaks when it is bad.

Great info David and Don, more to think about when cutting bow wood.

Sounds like leaners can be a mixed blessing.  I still favor those staves from a modest leaner that pull a couple of inches of nice even reflex.

Hey, so what about the      stuff on the ground, or this piece you get from a fence post dealer? Do you know if it was a "leaner"? Ha, Ha. It's all Good! The best piece I've ever got, was from a friend who graded standing timber, it was on the ground, and burnt on one side. Fine grained, and made the nicest bow I have made, so far!

Frank B - you don't.

I made some bows out of posts that were on the ground (ON not in) for 7 years and they were good.  I should say the wood was good.  The bows were ugly-sticks I learned on.