I have aquired some realy young pieces of osage orange, they are about Five and a half feet in length and about 2 to 2 and a half inches in diameter and I was wondering if I could use these to make some low poundage bows for my sisters, if so how heavy could they go, if not they,re good kindling wood for this winter. Thanks guys
Sure. Why not? Do you think they are too narrow for all heartwood? if yes, I've black locust and an osage bow with a sapwood back. Just get a sapwood ring as close to the heartwood as possible. My osage bow from an osage sucker came in at 49# at 26 in. Jawge
George do you think they,re too short one is about Five foot and the other about five and a half. Are they too short or would they be ok to make a descent bow?
That osage sucker bow of Georges is a great shooting bow. It looks like a kids bows but shoots a heavy arrow real well...Doc
How old are the staves(growth rings) and what is the ratio of heartwood and sapwood?
I built an osage bow not long ago that has 50/50 sapwood/heartwood, it is 60" long, 1 3/8" wide at the fades and pulls 57#@26".
The late Sonny Iman built limbows from 2" osage poles that were hunting weight bows. He just split them down the middle and used each half for a bow.
Pat