I have a large selection of live Osage orange trees at my disposal.  I as wondering if anybody could give me any advice on how to go about selection of harvesting one of the trees to make a bow out of.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.

post this in the bowyers bench forum here, that's where alot of the self bowyers hang out.

Straight as possible, both the bark pattern and the trunk. Stay away  from knots and limbs if you can. Cut them no less than 72" long, plan on ends checking.

Like Chris said, look at the bark, the pattern will form a chain like appearance as it goes up the trunk. If it goes straight up the trunk that is good. If it curves around the trunk like a barber pole, not so good and a tree to avoid. Look for flaws like a place a limb has been grown over which will produce what we call a cat face or eye.

Pick only the straight stuff and don't expect it to be as straight after it dries.

Good video on YouTube by Clay Hayes about this very topic.  Check it out.

Steve

Agree that Clay Hayes video s superb....!

Thanks everybody!  I'll check out the video and start looking for an ideal tree.

Just remember, one good tree can yield at least 8 staves, and quite a few billets. So don't get cut crazy!

Recommend reading Dean Torges, Hunting the Osage Bow.

Make sure you wear a mask when cutting. Osage and iron wood have a very fine dust.

You will see when you get to cutting it.

Hedge grows thick around our place and the only thing we have found that its good for growing up is a fence post!!!!!!
It will outlast the wire a lot of times and we have built a ton of fence using it   :eek:
Amazing Wood, just don't try to hammer new staples into an old post...... they are like concrete after they sit out in the weather for a few years.            

We had a gentleman from church come out to our farm when I was young wanting some hedge to make a bow out of.... we thought he was crazy  

Can you take some pics of the potential trees/limbs that your considering?

I'll take some pics when I start looking for a specific tree.  It will probably be February before I get serious about trying to find one.