My 20 acres in NE Kansas is full of Orange Osage (Hedge). Hate the hedge apples, but love how strong they are. Burns super hot when seasoned.

Osage is a very useful tree. Not only will it make a fine bow but a post of it will outlast any treated post on the market. It is great as a guard against corrosion because of the size and depth of its roots. Outdoor furniture is as durable a wood as there is if made from the wood. Dye can be made from it.

Thanks for making these vids, man. I've seen some other great courses but they lacked the detail that a complete noob like myself would need to do this on my own. Yours, however, have answered a lot of my questions.

This was really interesting to watch! I am happy for you for getting such a nice tree!

i actually like this splitting video the best out of your others... some good looks at what you cut and split.. well done!

I appreciate this video. It let me know how much work, time, and space you need for preparing those staves.

Great work here bud. Love the simplicity. Awesome video. Much love from texas

That's so true Tim, good catch. I usually do wear saw chaps, but didn't have any for this trip down south.

excellent! i found my first Osage Tree today ,your information is appreciated.thanks from Detroit

Yep. Hedge, or hedge apple, are also common names for osage.

I’m up in Daytona Beach, kinda want to go out to Ocala with some friends next time they go camping and see if I can find some and maybe bring it back to school. Not sure where I’d store it. The friends have their AC blasting at all times though, so I might see if they can hold onto it at their place for it’s cool temp and good air flow

I love the color of the wood

Nice wood and you split the Osage about the same way we used to split tobacco barn wood which was Pine here in NC ..Wish I had an Osage stave for a bow..Cheers.

Awesome man never seen anything that clean

I think it would be pretty risky to take a green stave down to the final backing ring. I'd leave a few rings above What you want the back ring to be, then coat with glue. That would alow things to dry quicker. With that said, you don't want to take it down to close to finished deminsion while it's really green or it may develope drying cracks. Leave plenty of wood while drying.

And I do enjoy your videos, they are very informative.

Those growth rings are damn large. I might have to grow some of those monsters. I woulda thought being one of the hardest woods around here that it would be slow growing but that looks like a solid tree. Being coppiced may have made the growth faster tho. Most of them in the wild will be twisted but won’t be like that they won’t as many different trunks.

While I was 'into' making Indian self-bows, I was somewhere in south Illinois and came upon a riverside park. Down on the bank I spied a number of 'crabapples' and upon investigation, discovered the very tall osage trees growing near the river bank. These magnificent trees will sometimes grow straight and tall to reach sunlight in certain environments, and I hated to leave these massive bodark trunks unharvested! One of my greatest regrets while driving a truck!

Thanks! I'd like to try Osage for a Banjo bridge.

I'm pretty jealous about all this wonderful Osage :D

Great info, love the channel... surprised I didn't find it sooner.

Gold does grow in trees! Wish this grew in Britain, we have other hardwoods that can make a good bow and sometimes a piece of old Yew can be good but Osage is my favourite. I bought several staves years ago and shipped them here but taxes and shipping make it too expensive now.

I am getting a lot out of your videos. Thank you for sharing.

I know this is an old video but I love your bow building tutorials

Sorry, I meant a bow. Love your videos. Very helpful in tutoring.

Tim, if I wanted lumber for flooring that'd be great. Problem is, a saw doesn't follow the grain, which is very important in bow making.

Have you ever made bow wood from hickory or ash?

I live in NW Florida; just finished splitting a oak tree and walnut. Is it a good idea to loosely use plastic wrap to help dry evenly? Unfortunately have not been successful making a bow. New to all this stuff. Watching all your basic building videos often replaying them. Thank you.

Any tips for making good hard wooden wedges Sir, awesome stuff.

closer to where? Osage is common throughout the midwest, from eastern Texas to Illinois.

I use at least 3 layers. Layered in a brick pattern if that makes sense. With that said, sinew backing is a whole lot of work. If you're still new to bowmaking, you may want to perfect the selfbow first.

So between traditional bows and primitive bows, which do you think fits better with you as an archer?

You can build a drying bow which consists of a light bulb and a small fan inside a long box to help speed things up. But I've never dealt with it so I can't offer any advice on the technique. I've been lucky enough to have a steady supply of osage. Best to cut way more than you need. That way, some can be drying while your working on the older, dryer stuff. Better get started!

have planted some osage orange just hope i can keep it warm enough have an area in my garden that will be well away from everyone, so they should not get the needles stuck in them

Very interesting ! In Brittany we have yew but it is almost impossible to find straight limbs ,I made a longbow out of green yew wood without following too much the grain but it still works.. you have enough osage staves for a whole army (at Agincourt our army was defeated thanks to the yew longbows of the english army ) thanks..

That Husky is bigger than a 55 rancher what size is that ?? I love huskies ~!~!

Clay, great videos, very informative. Thinking of trying to make a bow as a hobby. I have a fair amount of Bois D'Arc on my property. I've several trees that are possible candidates. What would you recommend as the minimum diameter trunk/limb and minimum length that you can make a good stave out of. Also, some of the possible limbs look like they might be dead already, but otherwise look fairly strait, not a lot of visible rot on the outside etc, just guessing they are dead based on looks of the upper branches (the new leaves aren't out yet), are those workable, or do you always need to start with live wood, thanks.

I've only used OO for fence posts and firewood as it is usually always too spiraled for anything else due to the wind here in KS. But it is such a beautiful color that I hate that so much of it is "wasted" for these uses. I'm curious about your wedges. They appear to be OO faced with phenolic. Is that correct? Do you use these materials to protect your saw & axe or to protect the staves you're splitting? What adhesive do you use to bond the OO and phenolic and what is the striking surface material?

Man that osage looks bloody gorgeous, I'm from aus I have managed to find a few osage trees on old farms although the stuff I've been allowed to cut have been pretty pale compared to that stuff you have I read somewhere that the darker rich orange gold is the better quality osage, man send me one of those staves and I'll pay you triple it's worth plus postage,lol . love the video mate as always you have by far taught me more about building bows than anyone else .... shit wonder how much more I could learn from your DVDs .... anyways thanks so much for sharing your skills as a bowyer , I know that my journey learning this art has been alot less frustrating as it might have been without the knowledge i learned from your videos

I know where there are a bunch of nice straight trees here in Willis TX. Unfortunately they are part of the foliage along a golf course in a gated community. LOL.

Great how-to! Have you made any arrows out of the suckers/young shoots? I

Hey thanks for the reply.. there was a small crack in my big end so I decided to go from that end and took it into account. The split did jump to the crack, but everything went smoothly. 6.4' English Ash 9/10 inches in diameter. The quarters are massive. 5 top to 6.6" base on the backside at least. Whats the minimum size you want a stave? What do you think? I should split my quarters into 8ths?

I recently got a monster haul of Osage up here in NE Ohio. Some of the logs 20 plus inches in diameter. All quartered, ends sealed with wood glue, stacked on pallets on the side of my garage with a tarp lean to over them to keep the elements off, but allow air flow. I drenched the bark sides in that Ortho Home Defense insecticide. Think that'll keep em safe for a while? I've never had much issue with Osage and bugs in this area, mostly only white woods.

Hello. Great videos, thank you for sharing them! I have a question about drying and back work. I've been researching for a while; a book I'm using is Jim Hamm's, on Native American bows. He strips the bark and reduces close to stave size right after splitting, and coats the back and tips with carpenter's glue, for faster drying and preventing bugs. If I do this method, when I later work the back to one growth ring would i take off the glue only, or go a couple rings beneath that which it was on?

I have a straight log to split for staves.. Do I start with the big end or the little end?

Could you make a bow out of a straight 6 foot long 2.5 inch Osage limb?

I'm thinking about making a bow (maybe about 60" in length) out of hickory using a string i'll make from rawhide. I'm most likely going to get the hickory from a local lumber store that's already cut the board out (i'm thinking of one thats about 1in. x 2in. x 8ft to give me some leeway). Would these boards be alright for making a bow out of? By that i mean could i trust the wood to make a bow that's going to be around 40#-45#?

We have 42 acres in south east ohio in adams co where hedge apple is over populated the place is full of big bucks after first frost those bucks stomp on the apple and eat it . Ive got several 2 and 3 year old logs 8 foot in our barn some split some still logs . Got to give it just a few more months to try this old draw knife out ive built 7 board bows this past winter learning the tiller method before i try and mess one up.

Clay have you ever done any greenwood work? There’s two techniques my tribe uses one is the seasoning for 2 years and another is greenwood. With the greenwood you rough out your bow then dry it with heat. Then go back and do your finishing and filleting. Just curious if you’ve ever done that and your thought on it. I haven’t made a bow yet. Figuring I’d do a board bow just to learn the basics before I go harvest any wood and make staves.

Have you ever tried using a solar kiln to dry your staves?

You would be hard pressed to find any hedge over 3 feet long in iowa those days are long gone story goes it used to be everywhere. I hunted for it for years best I could come up with is enough to make billets and bamboo back then . My bowyer hero was Dean Torges who is now deceased but the knowledge he shared with us was priceless. Read hunting the Osage bow by him it’s a wonderful book

I wish you luck on your project, looks like I'd better get started on my pile of black walnut that's been setting for at least 10 years those worm are up here in West Virginia also they love shag bark hickory and shell bark also. Get that wood while it's green if you know what I mean.

Florida huh? I’m gonna be heading over to Daytona Beach for college in a couple months, reckon they’ll be any good wood there?

Really beautiful piece of Osage you lucky dog.

i normally make a cut up from the bottom and then down from the top so it doesnt trap the saw

@Clay Hayes, how in the world did you get that much Osage into your truck?!

Bloody good add for husquvana chain saws btw ;) they just don't stop!

Where in Idaho are you? Would it be possible to get a stave from you? I'm in Northern Utah.

Hey man I made a stick bow and got it dry and ready to put a string on and when I did the string is about an inch from center. Do I just shorten it and use it or is it garbage ?

Also called horse apple tree or Bois D' Arc or wood of the Ark. It is a very hard wood and can be tough on machinery.

Live in south Florida what is the range to find theses trees growing? We have some of the toughest oak growing here

When you saw out wood gets the warms out mainly bark warms love bark

You could probably split them again. try one to see how it works out.

We don't get osage or yew or hickory here in South east asia. But I do have access to some cedar and silver oak here. Do you think they would be suitable for a self bow ?

How to prevent worms? Using an antiseptic for wood or....?

Very helpful I'm going to cut some osage today

Can i take it for hornbow ?

Ok, thank you very much!

Are the osage orange tree very prevalent in the are you are in fella ???

great video

Would keeping the stave indoors in a dehumified area help dry time?

Yep, just look in the creek bottoms and old fence rows. You should be able to find some osage. Probably more than you'll ever want. Also, ask around. Locals can point you in the right direction.

do you have to use a big trunk like that or could you use a smaller limb?

I've got a 6' log of it in excellent condition just for making bows......aged almost 5 years....

I've a 17 year old stave in the barn rafter.

Clay, keep one of the half pieces. We should try a rifle stock. I've made pistol grips. But not a rifle stock.

Trunk or limb, it doesn't matter. As long as there's not much spiral, and you'll be able to manage with any knots and crooks that are in the wood. you may need to look through several dozen trees befor finding one you want to cut.

Hi FolksI live in central Alabama. How are is it possible for me to get a section of this wool from you. Thanks Remington Magnum

Jared Ross from Missouri I live in northern Missouri and want to start building a bow. Whatced a lot of your videos. Great information. I want to know were I can buy my tools to start. We have a farm that is loaded with hedge. In going to cut some soon. Thanks for your videos

I just want a quarter sawn board to make a ukulele body out of. Where can I get some?

Excellent!

Clay, I’ve got a question I cannot find the answer to for the life of me. If I cut a tree, take bark off and take off as much wood from the inside as possible, how soon can I finish a bow?

Why did you split the wood when green ???

Hi there, I've got a little question that is bugging me a bit.. Is it better to split the log/branch before seasoning it, or will it be better to leave it whole, so the bark can cover the entirety of the wood and only the ends have to be painted/sealed? I am dealing with hazel so the trunks will be much more smaller than the ones you show in the video

What will happen if we use the chain saw to split the wood?

Is the drying time different for other types of tree? also, what are the signs that your stave is ready (dry enough) to be worked on? Thanks for this video.

ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO WATCH YOU WORK CLAY. RAKE CARE GARE

aw wow Grandpa always called those hedge trees, our property is littered with those! I'm gonna make a freakin bow!

Where are you at in Idaho? I am a bowyer myself and in living in Rexburg about an hour and 20 minutes north of Pocatello. I dont know if you are close or if you have any left but Id kill to get my hands on a good piece of Osage. Ive never been blessed to come acrossed any. thanks for the video.

on ebay I can buy osage stave for $25-35. it was harvested in oct 17 and already bark is stripped off it . is that safe to buy. I like the osage you found that was great looking stuff.

Can persimmon wood or honey locust wood be used for bow staves?

Bodocks (bois d'arc for the purists) make the best fence posts I've ever encountered and used here in Alabama. Bodock fence posts will outlast metal posts and treated wood posts due to the hardness and density of the wood. And be prepared to sharpen the chain often if you're going to be sawing a lot of Bodock. But never, never hit an ax head with the sledge hammer, it'll destroy the head.

I've made primitive arrows the suckers of sparkelberry, arrow wood, willow, yaupon holly, etc. Never from osage suckers though.

And have you ever made bow from eastern woods from the east coast?

So I noticed you didn't use wood rasp in tillering. Why is that?

i always start from the small end, but i don't think it matters much.

Hi how are you. I would like to know if you can sell me a stave of Orange Osage and a stave of Yew? If you can not, maybe you know some one how can sell me these Staves?

You got Osage in Florida? Where in Florida does it grow?

Something I don't understand... You say that you don't sell bows yet you have enough wood just right there to make at least 100 of them. How long does a bow last you? I figured a well made bow like the ones you produce would last a VERY long time if properly cared for. Would you mind enlightening me?

Are these the same tree as the hedge hog tree......man here in Kansas their everywhere.