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Osage staves

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TXHALE:
Thanks for the warm welcome ya'll. I'm hitting the woods again this week for a few more staves so soon as it's cut and split I'll post the pics of all of em. Hope I can find some ya'll can use. Criveralle I've done alot of running in the 'ville one day we'll have to meet up and swap lies.

seider:
welcome to PA i am not to far from you either in may..  Will be up in springtown this weekend for a inlaw family reunion.. Dang sure gonna have to slip out of there for awhile maybe go play on the river...

toomanyknots:
Be sure to process em correctly. Important things:

- Seal the ends as soon as you can after cutting,
- If you remove the bark seal the back,
- Most people recommend if you remove the bark, to remove the sapwood as well, (I remove the bark and seal the sapwood myself, but than again, most people also think I'm an idiot, so there ya go)
- If you don't remove the bark, make sure to spray for bugs, sometimes they can get in even after spraying,
- If you remove the bark at all, no matter what is under it, make sure you seal it. And I am talking about the back of the bow stave. So make sure you seal the both ends and the back. The sides and the belly should be left alone to dry out.
- I recommend splitting the staves out into as small of staves as you are going to, as soon as you cut it. The reasoning behind this is less wood = less chance of checking, which I have found to be true. The osage I cut tends not to warp when it seasons really as long as it is as large a piece as a stave. Although less wood = more a chance of warping. But not near enough of a chance of checking when the wood is large. (Also, warping is fixable, and checking isn't.)
- It is very important how you season your wood. Inside is best, the slower the better. No fans. No air conditioning, as air conditioning drys the air out dramatically, and that will cause a major loss of moisture from the stave FAST, and fast seasoning = checking which will ruin a stave. Too hot or too cold is bad too though, but drastic temperature changes only really happen when staves are kept outside or in a garage I would think.
- The main thing I hear people vote for sealing is shellac. And also poly. I use elmers glue for the back, and tb3 for the ends personally. 2 coats of elmers on the back, 3 coats of tb3 on the ends...

JW_Halverson:

--- Quote from: toomanyknots on August 28, 2012, 01:44:37 am ---(I remove the bark and seal the sapwood myself, but than again, most people also think I'm an idiot, so there ya go)

--- End quote ---

I wouldn't say you are an idiot, 2many.  A halfwit with bad decision making skills, but not an idiot!  EVERYONE knows you are supposed to remove the last two growthrings of sapwood next to the heartwood and leave the outer layers above it!   >:D

Kidding aside, TXHALE print out 2many's list of suggestions and have it laminated.  There are years of wisdom from hundreds of bowyers and thousands of ruined staves in that list of suggestions.  The three main take-aways are: 1) seal the ends, 2) bug spray saves staves, 3) If you take anything off the back of the stave then you need that sealed tightly, too.

You can always send me samples of your staves for testing and evaluation.  I will be sure to give you all the positive feedback I can, hehehehe.

Good luck with your 'sage harvest.  Don't turn your nose up at good hickory in the meanwhile.  In dry climates it is easily the equal of osage in the bowmaking department!

TXHALE:
Thanks for sharing all that guys I'll for sure take all the help I can get. I've done all you said before even reading your post so I got lucky but it's good to know I'm not as ocd about it as I thought!

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