Osage orange identification, harvesting, and cutting for bow staves
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- čas přidán 20. 03. 2018
- Osage Orange is one of the best tree species we have for building selfbows. This video covers how to identify osage orange, what to look for in terms of quality, how to identify a good bow stave, and how to cut bow staves safely. Harvesting osage can be a challenge due to the tangled tops and thick growing conditions.
I'm attending the Oklahoma Selfbow Jamboree, OJAM, and the hosts were kind enough to let us harvest some bow wood on their property.
One of the most difficult things about harvesting osage bow staves is getting the trees to drop once cut. Due to the thick growing conditions, the tops often get tangled with one another making it difficult to safely get the logs on the ground. Osage has thorns, furrowed bark and often grows in association with elm and locust in bottom land forests along creeks. These staves were harvested in spring when there were no fruits so other features are used in identification. Harvest time matters little in my opinion.
In future videos we'll split bow staves and follow a few bow building beginners through the process at the OJAM in central Oklahoma.
Making your own traditional archery equipment, or even your own self bow or longbow is a great way to get more involved with archery and bow hunting, improve your self reliance, bushcraft, and survival skills.
Website: www.twistedstave.com/
Facebook: / twistedstave
Instagram: / clayhayeshunter
What an amazingly beautiful tree the Osage Orange is. Wow :)
It's the hottest burning wood too.
Very informative and useful video.👍👍
If you have a lathe, those twisted Osage trees make REALLY nice bowls and cups.
osage is one of my favorite trees great for bows and tool handles even saw a guy make a flute out of it once
Amazing wood. Very highly valued for use as structural timbers for wooden boats as it steam-bends beautifully and is so damn rotproof.
Interesting! I never knew.
I'm in NW Tennessee. The osage (I call them hedgeapple trees) on my 6 acres are so big around I can't put my arms around some of the trunks. A person could get a lot of staves out of one trunk. I know they are damn heavy. Before my husband passed he cut some in chunks so we could make a clear path through our field. It took everything I had to get them to my fire pit to burn.
That's a good load
easier to find billets for sure.. Amazing how the natives did all this with stone tools!
I think it would be worth it to drive from Utah to Oklahoma for some osage if I was able to get a trailer load like that. alos some hickory would be good too I thinkthanks for the vid awesome!!
My grandpa would make walking staff’s with them now I’ve been doing the same found a bunch perfect size all over lake thunderbird
Yáh'áh'téh...
Greetings from the Navajo Nation I'm a Navajo bowyer we don't have osage grown here on the Navajo reservation you're lucky do sell the staves for bow making
Cool
Hey Clay I love your videos. Being an arborist I wished you had demonstrated and talked about proper cutting methods and personal protective equipment like hard hat, hearing protection, safety glasses chainsaw leg and foot protection. Loved the psa on poison ivy. Message me if you want to hear more. Otherwise thanks again and keep the bow vids coming. Peter.
They didn’t talk about it because this was the sketchiest shit you can find on taking trees down. So lucky no one got hurt. I loved it though 10/10 would go with on the next run just for the entertainment alone.
My dad was the same way of course he cut wood for 50 years!!
Some guys don’t care that’s what makes them rugged and tough (maybe not smart lol)
It's nice being immune to poison ivy and poison oak. ;)
Is it still popular to have planted between ranchrs, or do the itchy cows scratch themselves too raw on the thorns?
Great video.. Here in ol Virginia we, well around here in Pittsylvania county don't have a lot of Osage. Very few. I've made plenty bows from hickory and maple. Starting on some mulberry bows. Have you or do you sell Osage staves? Gotta know.... Aim small miss small!!!!
I’ll have some cured staves after June.
Very interesting video Clay , will you be doing a video on splitting the wood or do you dry and season it first . Thank you for sharing 👍👍👍
czcams.com/video/eiwt8edIZuw/video.html
Hank Czinaski Thank you very much sir 👍👍
Working on it today.
Clay Hayes thanks Clay look forward to seeing it 👍👍👍
What do you seal the ends with?
Just to let you know, these videos have been a big inspiration! Actually I'm planning on trying my hand at bowmaking. Though I'm wondering, after you split the staves and leave them to dry, how do you keep them from developing cracks as they dry? The ones I have stashed away are from bird's cherry (prunus padus), and it would suck to attempt carving them to find out they are full of cracks. Thoughts? Thanks!
Different wood dries differently. Some will crack and some won’t. The best you can do is seal the ends and that should take care of most of it.
@@clayhayeshunter Alright! Would you then suggest letting the wood with its ends sealed first dry, and split it into staves after that?
No, split it first and it’ll dry much faster.
I'm struggling to find any Osage. I remember seeing it all the time as a kid here in Oklahoma. I have "some" located to cut later but not much. I have also always heard that it should be cut in the winter but realistically it can't start drying until it is cut. Its so damn hot right now heat stroke would be a real possibility.
Still everywhere. I went climbing in the Washington mountains including the peninsula and only found one yew.
Love your content and love of family, question in Louisiana is it better to harvest Osage Orange in the winter?
Doesn’t matter when.
@@clayhayeshunter thanks a billion, you are the best,
Do you use Viburnum for arrows?
I have before but I prefer river cane or sparkle berry.
Is there some public land there in Oklahoma where we can cut some Osage or if you go to that bow building jamboree can you cut some there or are you on private land? Thanks. I'm in north Florida and I'd drive up for some Osage.
It’s all on private land but landowners are usually happy to let you cut it.
Greetings from OK! I've always been told to cut my trees during a freeze so the sap is down. I noticed it doesn't look too cold in this video. Do you think the freezing weather really helps?
I don’t think it makes any difference. I’ve cut them at all times of year.
@Your Comment Changes Nothing Interesting. I've got a couple extra staves I will try this on. I wonder how long he leaves them submerged?
Hedge growing in the middle of the timber grows straighter than hedge on the edges of the woods.
This is a good rule of thumb! good point.
Hello from Oklahoma. What's the minimum diameter & length of branch you could use if you just wanted to cut a branch without cutting the whole tree down?
I suppose depends on how long you wants your bow. As for diameter, I don’t usually cut anything under about 5”.
@@clayhayeshunter Thanks for the info. I'll be checking out your other vids on how to make a bow from Osage. It'll be my 1st time so wish me luck.
Any advice on how to legally and ethically harvest wood? I watch tons of videos on this and outdoor foraging, but nobody ever talks about where to do it.
Private land unfortunately. Unless you are lucky enough to come across a freshly fall tree or limb on public access land.
I live in Saudi Arabia and I wanted to harvest a local tree that goes locally by a number names; Sheryan شريان , Nabe نبع and Showhat شوحط. I have no idea if it has an English name or not. I read about it in the Arab Archery book. I don't know of any one in the area who still makes bows, but people who use this tree for making walking canes say that it needs to be harvested in late winter or it may develop cracks. You mentioned that "Harvest time matters little". I will be visiting that area in late June for a couple of weeks and was wondering if I shouldn't try to harvest it during my stay or if there is a way that I can still go ahead and do it without risking the staves developing any cracks.
I don't know if it makes any difference or not but from the pictures I've seen of the tree it looks like it's small and doesn't have a big trunk.
I’m not familiar with the species you’re referring to. It may behave differently than the wood I’m familiar with here. If you do harvest some in June, seal the ends with wood glue so it doesn’t dry too fast. That may reduce the risk of cracking as it dries.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to this wonderful type of wood here in Canada (Quebec). Other than the Hard Maple 🍁, I do not know what other woods would be good for self-bow making in my part of the country.
Very good to know as a Canadian.
I know the location of about 5 large osage trees in south western ontario
They are endemic in NE Kansas because the early 20th century, the State and then the Feds really promoted them as natural windbreaks for farm fields
Is honey locust good for making bows, or is it bad?
I’ve never tried it but I’ve heard of people using it.
There are Male and Female Osage Orange Trees, the Females produce the seed. What would be the minimum diameter of a tree you might be able to use?
Three or four inches. The smaller the tree the higher the crown.
Poison Ivy!!! I get itchy just saying it. I have a terrible reaction to it. Crazy that my sister and brother have had lifetime repeated exposures and could probably eat it in a salad.
I see a lot of Osage along the roads here in SE PA. The township cut a bunch last year that looked pretty good but they didn’t leave it and it ended up in a chipper.
Does Osage Orange grow in North Carolina.
Yes, I found one today not far from Asheville
I wish we had Osage growing here in the UK 😐, but I'm really glad we dont have anything like Poison Ivy🙂, the worst we get is stinging nettles and thistles, theyre painful enough 🙁.
In Kansas Osage is "Hedge". Using the proper name, nobody would know what you was talking about.
As soon as you cut to that small log, my body tensed up...My brain recognizes poison ivy leaves and vines and throws that to my conscious mind just like roof racks on a car 1/4 mile away make your brain tell your foot to tap the brakes (thinking "cop car").
I used to get poison ivy every year duck hunting in Arkansas in January...luckily my Dr just calls in a steroid script when I get it.
It sucks! Everyone managed to escape it this time.
I think acacia is better than Osage orange
Stop cutting down my trees
No