It is a very invasive species and is about to take over my part of the mid-west. It is hurting many forested areas since it can over power many of the regular species and in many forest it becomes all of the under-story since trees that could tower above it can't get a start.
All of that aside since it is there I see no reason to not use it.
A few years ago (some of you with healthy brain cells might even remember it
) We went to an annual family camp-out at one of Diana's brother's place and each year he had some kind of planned activity. That year it was a challenge to make at the camp-out, a bow and arrow using only simple hand tools. We were allowed a hatchet, a drawknife, a block plane, some kind of knife etc. We could buy the string (I used very high test parachute cord).I went around the farm cutting about a half dozen saplings from about 1.5" to 2" dia. of all sorts of species that I thought might work. I kind of wanted to use a piece of hedge (osage orange) but I don't have any here and had no time to go the other place to look there. I whacked the saplings off at about 6' long a few days ahead and sat them in a back corner of the old motorhome.
By the time we started on the bows I didn't even remember what I had cut. Most I could tell by the bark but without leaves or a sawed surface I wasn't sure about a couple.
I grabbed a piece that "just felt good" and I thought might be a young black locust sapling. At least until I split it and realized that it had a center pith. Then after looking closely I knew that it was the buckthorn. It came out pretty well all things considered... What I missed the most was a vise on a heavy bench.
I took a lot of pleasure in the fact that I made a working bow while everybody else made a curved stick with a string.
My biggest blunder was not getting the little pith core split completely out of it but that didn't seem to hurt it.I still want to make another one working in my shop with all of my tools but I will use a piece of buck-thorn to make it. It was straight grain and I was able to split it out along the grain just fine. The thing that struck me the most was just how strong of a spring it was. I was worried that I was getting it too thin but when finished it was all I could do to draw it back about half way.
I cleaned house on the distance competition. 
If you are ever looking for something to serve as a wood spring like a spring pole operated tool or a spring seat take a look at Buckthorn.
Like I said I want to make a proper bow in the shop but I also want to try making a laminated one using both buckthorn and osage orange together.
Sadly, one of Diana's brothers passed away and another kind of got in a mini feud with the host brother's wife and as a result the gathering has not been held the last two years.
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