even if you find what you're looking for, shipping adds a chunk to the price...you would be way better off if you could find one close enough to pick it up...or use some of your hickory or work what you have down to near floor tiller. You will get to work on bows, be way ahead when they are ready, and they will dry sooner.

I've been paying atround $75 and close to $50 for shipping. I bought one on ebay last month for $31 and $40 shipping, but unseasoned.

I always try to thin them up and then let them dry out ? It cuts time in half.

That price sounds about right. I just can't make myself pay that. Are the staves in your barn Osage? If you are set up with the right equipment you can be shooting a stave in a couple months. I have an Osage bow I am shooting now that was shooting arrows 40 days from when I cut the tree and it is a shooter.

Though Osage is the King of self bow woods other woods like Black Locust, and white woods like Elm,H horn beam,Hickory,Bamboo,and even Birch,and Black Walnut when designed properly will make a bow as efficient. Better to use a good piece of Elm etc than a bad piece of Osage. I found that out the hard way over the years.It is always a good idea to harvest bow wood that grows in the area in which you live, and you have access to.JMO

You should have plenty of osage in your area, put an ad in the local paper or on Facebook Marketplace that you are looking for some trees to cut. I bet if you offered $100 a tree and promised to cut the top into firewood you would get a few bites. Osage is considered a trash wood nuisance by most people who have it on their land. There may be some osage fencepost sellers in your area as well.

If I had to pay the going rate for osage I would have never become an bow maker.

If you want to buy and not cut your best bet would be to go to a big bow get-together like Mojam, Twin Oaks, OKjam and such, more osage than you can shake a stick at and at very reasonable prices.

I started collecting the stuff locally 25 years ago, any brush pile I saw on land being cleared that had bright orange roots sticking out of it got my attention. I would always ask for permission to salvage the logs, my honesty and consideration for the landowner often got me permission to cut on other property they owned.

My last big haul was from a tree the city road dept pushed over off a right away. I called the city, told the works department manager what I did with the wood and asked if I could salvage the useable parts, he said have at it, so I did.

The picture above is of the logs I salvaged from the tree the city pushed over.

Here is what you will find at the big bow making gatherings. This was several years ago at Twin Oaks, the staves ranged from $10 for a narrow twisty stave to $100 fro a premo snaky one.

As you can see I am in osage heaven.

Another thing, what you see in the picture above was about 25% of the osage Milke had laid out to sell.

I found another picture of Mike's osage, amazing!

I find these discussions interesting. Osage doesn't grow on trees in New England nor does money. :)

What was I to do?

I learned on back locust, a fine bow wood all of which I cut myself. Harvesting my own bow wood gave me an added dimension. Learning how to cut, split and season staves is is special.

Later I went to boards which helped me hone my skills. I went through about 14 BL staves. Some were pretty funky. Learning how to work character wood came in pretty handy.

I don't think I tried osage until year #10 of my prime bow making years and it is an excellent wood.

I've been blessed; some fine people have gifted me osage. I've made some fine bows from osage.

But, PM, don't discount other woods like hickory. I've also made some fine bows from hickory, oak, elm, maple and others I've forgotten.

Anyway... Jawge

OP, Where are you at in Indiana? I have some seasoned for about ten to 12 years. Just have not got around to using it. I am on the South Side of Indy. PM me if you want.

I'm with Jawge, don't discount the hickory. Granted, there are a number of different species of hickory, and some are considered better than others, but all will make a fine bow. I built a hickory bow over 20 years ago, wide and thin and long, designed like Paul Comstock in 'the bent stick' showed. It still shoots fine, shot it last year in a 3-D shoot. Not as fast as some of the others, but hickory flat bows are durable and reliable. That is worth a lot in my estimation.

Having said that, I understand your desire to try Osage, it's super bow wood, and it's relatively expensive to obtain unless you can find your own. Knowing the labor involved to locally obtain osage, and the labor to make it usable staves, the price, to me, seems more than reasonable. YMMV

The new heat treating video points out that hickory can be just a good a bow wood as osage, I have a friend experimenting with this technique and is getting his hickory to do great things.

Even so, if one can find easy access to osage the yellow wood will cast a spell on you.

I am with Eric. The last osage I got in MI. was when the power company went through cutting for power lines. I just camped out for the day till they got to the trees. Asked them to just drop it in six foot lengths and I would do the rest after they ran the branches through the chipper. Just cost some sweat equity. John

Grows like weeds around me.

You lived closer to me in Michigan I would give you a stave. I have some 3 year old cut and split. They still have the bark on. I opened my camp yesterday and spotted them in the back of my shed. Forgot I even had them.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here