Several years back I had a couple osage logs sawed into 2" thick boards.  I never took them down any farther and ended up trading or giving most of them away.  The logs weren't the straightest.  I'm trying again and hoping for boards straight enough to cut lams from.  I'm taking them to a small sawmill operation on Saturday.  I guess the plan is to have them cut into 2.25" slabs and then cut those into 2.25" square boards and let them dry.  I plan on sealing the ends with several coats of glue and strapping them together with spacers to dry.  Does that sound like a good plan?  I guess I will need to get a planer in the near future.   

Here is what I have to take to the mill.  Since this picture I cut one more log but I want that one cut into thinner boards for a bench or tables.






The ones that I'm cutting up for bow wood have a dark red color

Nice logs, Clint.

Plan will work..

Thanks Roy.  Those big red osage logs have interlocking grain similar to Elm.  I saw it in the bark before I cut it.  I tried splitting a 1' long test piece and it just laughed at me.  I figured it would make nice lumber.  The grain should keep it from checking too bad I would think. 

That's gonna make some nice lumber, Clint. If I may suggest, once you have them sawn into 2.25" lumber stack and sticker them for a month or 2 before cutting them smaller. Less chance for them to move(twist) that way.

I can send you my address I might need to inspect a couple of 8/4 slabs for you.   

Quote from: Pat B on December 20, 2018, 01:01:40 PM
That's gonna make some nice lumber, Clint. If I may suggest, once you have them sawn into 2.25" lumber stack and sticker them for a month or 2 before cutting them smaller. Less chance for them to move(twist) that way.

That was the plan Pat.  I'm too busy to cut them anyway.  I need to figure out a place to stack them now.

once you have them sawn into 2.25" lumber stack and sticker them for a month or 2 before cutting them smaller.

Yup same here or even longer.

Clint ya can store them in my shop:)

Those are some awesome logs you got there.  I'm jealous of you guys in osage country. 

If it were me I'd sticker them and leave them to dry in slab form. I have never had good luck going from log to square lumber like you are asking about.

I'm glad I left those logs close to the road.  We had a bunch of rain in the last 24 hours and it's muddy.  I'll post some pictures of my log loading trailer tomorrow.   We have had a nice stretch of weather for December.  I cut some logs to split into staves too.  This was some easy to split osage.






After I had those busted into chuncks I found another tree to cut. This stuff is red also.

That's some pretty Osage....

Clint always gets good osage.    Helps having it growing nearby.

Here's a short video of my log trailer in action.  I took 2 loads to the mill today.

https://youtu.be/UQ3R4ssdOsQ

That's pretty cool, Clint.

I picked up the  osage slabs today.  I was very happy with what he charged.  I think the boards look amazing.  I see a lot of bow wood in them.  Other slabs will make beautiful tables. 








You can see the waves in the grain.  I could see this in the bark before I cut the tree. 








The wind checks make some beautiful designs. 






I stickered them and stacked them in my garage for now.  I plan on moving them to another storage building eventually. 

Nice haul! you got some beautiful wood. Those wind checks are really cool looking.

Oh wow.  Those boards came out nice.
Keep me in mind if you ever want to sell some. 
So does this mean you are going to start building lam bows???
-Ben

Very nice, Clint.

I wonder if the bark has wasp larva in it?

Sprinkle Sevin on them and seal the ends. Those check pieces might be resin  pressure projects.