Guess my wood

If you are going to try to sell some of the staves as bow wood you need to treat the wood correctly. The ends need to be sealed to prevent checking, I use Elmers wood glue. This slows down the drying process. Store the staves laying down flat, don't stand them in a corner. Also the longer the wood drys typically the better the bow. I have a couple staves I cut down in 1998 up in the attic this winter I will be making a new bow. A nice piece of hickory doesn't make a bad bow either.

DMM- you aren't the "wolfskins" DMM, are you?

No not me.
But I am very involved in traditional archery and enjoy making my own equipment. I am actually leaving tomorrow night to hunt in Iowa for a week.

Good for you! Wish I had the time. I've made maybe 35 bows in my life- have been granted much osage by acquaintances online.

Osage has a lot of branches coming out of the trunk in strange places usually. For a straight piece to be good enough for a stave, does it need to be knot free?

No. Some of the coolest self bow have some character flaws.

Ditto the mullbery.
NIce stove by the way JB

I'll post a pic of my canebrake rattler backed snakebow. Takes a little care, but curvy is good.

So then...Does anyone else have pics of wood that they think can stump the wood whores?