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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Outwest on March 07, 2019, 11:20:22 PM
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I have an Osage log that is about 6 feet long and 7 inches diameter. A friend brought it to me from Kansas 2 years ago. It has the bark on it and the ends were sealed with wax. Does this log have any value for making bows? It has been laying in my shop for 2 years now and I am not sure what to do with it. Maybe firewood? It sure is heavy for its size.
Thanks
John
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Osage is some of the best selfbow wood you can get so in that aspect, yes, it has great value for bows. The size is about right and depending on straightness, twists, knots etc, you should easily get 4 staves from it. Perhaps more if it's of the proper characteristics. A few pictures could help solicit more advice.
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It is like gold.
Split it into 4 pie shaped sections.
Pictures?
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Because of the way it was stored(log intact, ends sealed) there could be checks and/or bore damage. Split the log in half and remove the bark and you will see if either has happened. If these maladies didn't happen there is no reason there shouldn't be good bow wood underneath.
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How would one go about splitting the log? Maybe drive a wedge down the center?
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Basically that is it. What I do, and I think most do, is too study both ends of the log and determine where you would like it to divide and mark it. Then, personally, I have a hatchet that I I will tap in to the end of the log where I wish the divide to start. As I drive the hatchet in a split will start you can get a wedge in. Once that has started you at the mercy of the wood grain.
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I do the same as skeater for the most part. If you can find a crack/check on the cut end that's a good place to start your split. The wood is telling you that's where it wants to split. From that point, get ready for a workout and get after it... :)
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"https://www.youtube.com/embed/5kBKLgSlbuY"
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Reason #2 I don't cut trees that big.
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"https://www.youtube.com/embed/5kBKLgSlbuY"
Dang Roy, you look 30 years younger since you quit drinking.
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:goldtooth:
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Someone should show that young feller how to double stack wedges :knothead:
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Yep.
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You have got good advice on how to handle that log. I would add that you should start the split on the small end. Try to split it in even halves. That size log should yield 4 nice staves if everything goes well. Hopefully you don't find any drying cracks or bug damage under the bark. Post some pictures of what you get from splitting it.
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On big logs I put the chainsaw to them for the first split. I guess I should say I used to put the chainsaw to them, my osage cutting days are over due to old age.
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Watched the video, had no idea Osage got that big. You could make some furniture with that stuff!
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Osage gets a lot bigger than those logs.
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I've cut some pretty big osage, 20-24" diameter, and dealt with them by myself. But not nearly the biggest I've seen. I've passed up all the truly big ones. Been eyeing up a family of osage trees for years, even had permission to cut them a few years back, but never did. They are feak... ing... huge. Some leaning over so far, like dominos in freeze-frame, that the cows in that pasture are able to scratch their backs on them. Only 50 yards from the road and a gate. I could back right up to them, and probably load them with the farmers backhoe. They're just so big. And with those giant trees, you never know what's inside. Could be hollow, rotten, split. They might not be any good. I like em better in the 10-16" range.
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I just did a drive-by. Most of them are still there. There used to be more. Looks like maybe one is down on the ground. The smallest one on the right is at least 22-24".
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The biggest ones are about 100 yards away. I'd guess they're about 3' in diameter and pushing 35-40' tall.
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Here is one at least 5' in diameter and not the biggest I have seen in these parts.
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I remember reading an article in a popular boat building magazine where a schooner was built using Osage. It was the first time I had heard of Osage. There was a picture of the lumber for the build and it filled at least one semi trailer.there was some big, straight wood in that pile.
Dave.
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Just thinking about it, there was wood for a thousand bows or more.
Dave.
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Those pictures are making my back ache:)
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John-
I will typically snap a straight chalk line on the log and run a 1.5-2 inch deep kerf with a circular saw from one end to the other. Using this end to end slot, I then run a line of wedges down the log and give them sequential whacks until the log is split in two. You can do the same with the two halves.
Since you will be removing all the outer sapwood, you really aren't hurting anything and this helps with getting a more even split.
Good luck and like everyone else... I would love to see some photos.
OkKeith
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Thanks all for the info. OkKieth I might try the saw thing would a skill saw work? Any reason I couldn't split the log from the end? ( lengthways)
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I split around 300 osage staves each year with a 4 lb hammer and steel wedges. I've never had to use a saw to split them.
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I'm not a selfbow guy, but I always figured you would be violating the grain if you sawed a straight line. Especially on a snakey stave? Just curious...
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You would Ken. But some wood, even some osage, is straight grained enough that it doesn't matter. Often this can be read through the bark.
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With the chainsaw i always lost a little wood if there was an snaky grain I couldn't see. I had access to a bunch of wood so a quick cut with a chainsaw always looked better to me than the time spent trying to get that first split in a big log.
My buddy George collected all this wood from a huge standing dead osage tree, I offered to give the logs a chainsaw cut but he wouldn't let me and split it all by hand in 100 degree heat.
Turned out the wood had a chalky texture and he didn't get any good staves out of the pile of logs.
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You guys need a longer version of one of these;
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Flogging those logs counts as self abuse :nono:
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Ya got all the big boy toys I see:)
:thumbsup:
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I wish! (screen shot) I chop firewood with a old Firemans axe. Someday I'm going to build one of those.
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I got one, 7 ton.
Thinking about putting a bigger cylinder on it..
But it doesn't do bad.
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John-
A skill saw is exactly what I use. The kerf is only an inch or two. Once the wedges start in its all the woods idea of where it goes. It does cross grain in the kerf through the sapwood but you wouldn't be using that any way.
My experience with splitting from an end is that the split usually runs out somewhere and ruins one or two staves. With the kerf length wise and then the line of wedges you get a squarer split it seems. A stubborn log may need several wedges to keep the split straight.
Its worth the extra effort to me.
OkKeith