Ozbow

Driving past "my local" Osage plantation, I noticed the tops had fallen out of a couple of trees and there was a large tree that had fallen over the fence. A quick phone call to the farmer got the go ahead, so I headed off with chainsaw in tow.

Managed to get a half a dozen half decent pieces, not sure how many bows are in there but plenty of other bits and pieces anyway. I did eye off a couple of long straight limbs/trunks that were out of sight, but I'd had fairly strict instructions the first time I spoke to the owner, so I left well alone in the hope I can take advantage next time a big tree goes down.

Also managed to grab a couple of Desert Ash trunks courtesy of the line trimming on my way home - have read ok reports from the northern hemisphere forums so figured as it was going free....

I did semi-joke to a couple of co-workers that I'm stockpiling for woodworking in retirement (25-30 odd years away at current rates) Just need to crowd fund a seriously big band-saw to mill it down into some boards and lams etc.

Steve

Good score there mate; you should get a few good bows and bits and pieces out of that lot for sure.

Some nice looking logs, what are the growth rings in the Osage like?

Daryl.

Thanks guys, I think it was Napoleon that said he preferred his generals "lucky rather than good" and I'm certainly in that category

Honestly, I suspect that most of this is sub-par bow wood as it is. It's pretty thin ringed and only one log is reasonably straight and branch free, so I'm hoping to get it cut up enough I can run it through a big table saw etc. to make into riser blocks, overlays, billets etc. etc. etc.

Steve

flyonline wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:20 pm Honestly, I suspect that most of this is sub-par bow wood as it is. It's pretty thin ringed and only one log is reasonably straight and branch free, so I'm hoping to get it cut up enough I can run it through a big table saw etc. to make into riser blocks, overlays, billets etc. etc. etc.

Steve,

I had some pretty crappy Osage but I was able to turn it into a working bow. As a bonus It helped to improve my bowyer skills.

http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=15045

Daryl.

Thanks Daryl, I remember that thread from earlier and is one of my inspirations to give splicing a go. Have got myself a nice japanese pullsaw and a quick mock up with some scrap wood was much better than anything I've attained before, so off to print a few templates out. Also want to have a go at making a take down at some stage, so a few shorter billets may be pressed into service for such a project.

Cheers

Steve

Any chance of you getting some seed, I got some from the states but I haven't been successful in germinating any of it as yet and I want to grow it on my farm

Sure, but we'd have to do it properly - I work in an industry that has strict bio-security rules so I'm not really up to just posting seeds. You're in WA right? If you're still interested, let me know and I'm more than happy to package some up, and possibly some cuttings if it works.