The first pic is the trunk of an osage tree I planter 15 to 20 years ago. The second pic is of the crown of the tree and the  shoot on the right I will cut soon . It is about 2" in diameter and I'm hoping to make 2 pole bows from it. I'll keep y'all posted with my progress.



It's 35 degrees and raining today so I won't be cutting the shoot til the weather clears. Probably this weekend.

I'm curious about the grain configuration of the smaller diameter shoots. After you cut them, can you take a photo of the end cut?    Thanks ....   Kirk

Sure, Kirk, I'm curious also.
On suckers(shoots) from more mature trees there is usually a couple of sapwood rings but on this one I'm not sure. It won't matter though because I'll try to get two bows out of it. I'll split the "pole" in half lengthwise then bind them together with spacers between for good air flow then let then rest for a couple of months.

Watching

I cut the shoot today. I'll give it a few days to quit oozing sticky sap then saw it to length, cut in half lengthwise then bind the 2 halves back together with spacers between to all for good air circulation to aid the drying process. Looking at the rings it is 7 years old with 5 heartwood rings and 2 sapwood rings. I'll use the sapwood ring under the bark as the back. Here are a few pics of the downed pole...

I have been told that the split side can be the back also, and the bark side being the belly.

Nice pat

Won't the bark peel off easily at this time of year?
Dave.

Mark, I may try that with one of the halves. It will be a good comparison for the two bows.
  Dave, It may still be a little early for the bark to slip but I want the bark to stay on for now to seal the back. Once I saw the pole in half and bind it back with spacers it can loose it's moisture from the cut sides. I've done this a few times and these pole bows are surprisingly good shooters.

I'm curious if you'll  need to band those two pieces to a straight edge while drying to keep them relatively straight?   Kirk

Kirk, when I bind the 2 halves back together with spacers between them it keeps them from getting all wonky. I've done this a few times over the years and it works well. When I make bows out of the halves I'll add reflex with heat and a caul.

Quote from: Pat B on March 04, 2024, 12:01:11 PM
Kirk, when I bind the 2 halves back together with spacers between them it keeps them from getting all wonky. I've done this a few times over the years and it works well. When I make bows out of the halves I'll add reflex with heat and a caul.

Well it will definitely cut the drying time down dramatically splitting it in half.  Good time of year to start the air drying process too.

I screwed up a few times trying to harvest wood in late spring / early summer in slab form, and lost a lot of wood having it seal over and split badly... I had a bit better luck keeping things stacked inside with stickers in an open air shed and keeping it wetted down for the first few weeks in warm weather.  Once you get to 20% or below you are home free if ya keep the ends painted or sealed with shellac.

Good luck with those...   Kirk

Are you going to split or cut it Pat?

I'll cut it with my bandsaw, Mark. Too much chance of screwing up trying to split it.

 

Good job, Pat..

Hey Roy, where you been hiding?

After the pole sat in the basement for a week I went down today and cut it to 6" then sawed it in half lengthwise. You can see from the pics that there is already tension in the halves. I sealed the ends of both halves and bound them back together. I added spacers between the halves but there was so much tension that some of the spacers fell out but the air space is still there. Now the waiting begins. I'd like to give these halves at least 2 months to at lease fry some before I start on a bow. Here are a few pics...