Many of you read my previous thread where I happened upon an 8' 12" thick section of trunk on the ground of my local walking/biking trail:
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=005316
Well, I noticed a LOT of carpenter ants after I got the wood home and sealed it. Today I peeled back some bark not knowing what lurked beneath, but suspecting that the ants meant grubs, and the grubs were boring into my Osage! As John Scifres stated in his post...there was a smell of humus and earthy decomposition present.
I took the worst looking billet and removed the bark with a 2.5lb axe and there was a lot of eaten up sapwood and I even found whole grubs and ant eggs. I used the axe to remove all the destroyed wood and whitewood that remained. What I am left with is pretty much hard usable wood, however there are some bore-holes from grubs. I sprayed the now exposed back and ends of the billet with a generous coating of spray spar varnish. I set the billet back in the garage, on blocks.
Am I hosed? What about the rest of the billets? Take a look:
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/90abccd9.jpg)
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/669ab333.jpg)
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/7f52860f.jpg)
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/7844b475.jpg)
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/236175ad.jpg)
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/5b9f6ddf.jpg)
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/8cd60506.jpg)
photobucket fail.
try again , we'll help ya make it work...
-hov
Something locked the album and deleted just these images. Bizarre.
Reposted 'em. Hope they aren't too huge.
So all the bad/junk wood is gone, and still these billets are enormous.
Those things are pretty chewed up. I was going to say fill the holes with superglue but those are some pretty big holes. I've built a couple of osage bows with holes in them but they werent anywhere near that size. ????
I'd be leary of it mysef but you never know. Too bad though, nice snake in it.
The remaining boreholes are less than 1/4 deep, on 6" thick billets.
Clean all the bad wood off and see what you are left with. If the pieces are as thick as they look you may still get plenty of good wood for a bow. i think you need to spray the lot down with bug killer as well as sealing the wood, to kill anything that is still alive in there.
OK so tomorrow I'll get it all off of there, and spray the rest, not removing any more bark from the other 4 billets? That bottom billet probably weighs at least 80lbs.
That stave you have pictured is swiss cheese, toast, fubar, gone, in other words it's firewood. I've seen that before and unless you want a bow that looks like it's been shot with buckshot when it's done, I'd pick another one.
Check all the rest of them because they may not have gotten into all of it......yet.
You won't know till you get all the bark and sapwood off them, and I'd suggest you do it right away.
When I saw your first pictures I thought"thats a standing dead tree, BUGS". There still may be some good wood under the bug damage, the only way to know is to start chasing rings.
Wood wasps don't usually deeper than a couple rings into the heart wood. Powder post beetles go in the back and come out the belly so if you see any toothpick sized holes your stave is ruined but may not be with the wood wasp larva that you show in the pictures.
You will probably get below them. But maybe not. Only one way to find out. Most of the borer holes are old wood wasps not ants. They seem to eat for a couple years and then lose their taste for that piece. The eggs start in the bark, hatch and then the little bass turds start heading down. If they mature before they get too deep, they only do a little damage. Some of them eat down and then across and that really screws things up!
OK. These holes aren't deep. Is that good? I know I can get beneath them.
Take every thing off that is not sound. Get the stave(billets) to a good back ring and see what you have to work with. I'll give it a 50/50 chance from what I can see in the pics.
If you can get below them, then your lucky. I'd start working it down where the worst of the damage is, find out how deep they go. That way you won't waste a whole lot of time on it or store it for a long time just to find out later on that it's firewood. If you can't get below all the damage then you can seal it and put it away for a later bow build.
Good Luck!
Heres something I have done before. I had some osage logs that I let sit on the ground too long. When I went back to get them the bark fell off and they were full of worm holes. I split it down to staves that were about 3" wide across the back, then I took a skil saw and cut down the side of the split about an inch below the back kind of following the profile of the back. You will still have to chase a ring once you get that off but at least you'll be able to see how deep the damage goes and it will be a whole lot easier than workin it down with a drawknife.
All I have is my small 2.5lb axe and my machetes....
Bummer. Looks like you got your work cut out for you. Oh well, as long as your havin fun.
yeah i would get down through all that and see what youre left with.
my first impression was LAM'S! buckshot spalted osage veneer's sound nice...im sure idahocurt would sell them too...
-hov
That is what my fatherinlaw said, riser, lams, maybe, dunno.....see what's under there.
Will be working on it tomorrow AM.
If you're interested we could probably work out some kind of trade. My skil saw for one of your black widows. :dunno:
lol id call kenny or curt and tell em youll swap em this gorgeous stuff for some lams or something. i would only want one pair from the osage you got , and maybe a pair of lams for another bow. id call that even , but im not a lam builder...
Well shouldn't I strip off all my bark and junk and see what's left first? I have like 4-5 more billets that you can't lift alone. Gotta grab them with two hands to move/drag them. Am I ruining them by working with my small axe? Should I be using a draw knife or scraper?
naw an ae is fine for getting thru the bug holes.
if this stick was mine , id hack into it to see how deep they go , and if its worthhless , then look into maybe lams. im not sure a riser , but you can get some use out of it...fer sher-herrrrrr.....
-hov
If you can't get below the bugs, osage makes great firewood :)
Personally I'd make friends with someone who has a bandsaw. You could alternatively split off the belly so as to have enough wood for a stave. If the bugs are into that then it is trash.
Well today I took one 4' piece down and no bugs whatsoever, the next 8' piece no bugs whatsoever. As you can see these are LARGE pieces, as I have pretty big hands. The long piece is too heavy for me to pick up. Several staves must live in these billets, as thick as they are. You guys are the experts though. I wish there was a more efficient way to remove the bark and sapwood.
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/9484147a.jpg)
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/ed5614c3.jpg)
Also what do you guys mean by lams? Laminations? As in slice this stuff up thinly for laminations? That's a lot of lams....
Get yourself a drawknife and some way to clamp it. makes the hogging work easier.
Here's how I rough out a stave with a bandsaw. Sure saves on the joint pain when you are north of 40.
Roughout Page 1 (http://sticknstring.webs.com/roughout.htm)
That is more my speed John. I just need to get out to my inlaw's to use the shop equipment. I feel kinda guilty going at these billets with an axe but it's damn good exercise.
Well today I decided to get ALL the bark off of the remaining larger half of the trunk. Lots of insect boreholes and nested ants, and it actually checked and split. I cut it up and chunked it, ants and all.
The second one was good all the way down. The third quarter had boreholes in and through it (pic was the one above showing boreholes) so I cut it into 2' sections & resealed for knife handle material.
What I am left with is two 8' billets and five 2' sections. I will deliver it all to my fatherinlaw soon. I think we will bandsaw the billets into staves.
It was tough chucking that other half but it was gone mostly and without power tools just too much work to salvage into useful pieces.
(http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/th_b4e97d74.jpg) (http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g69/alexeinspruch/?action=view¤t=b4e97d74.jpg)