Log to workable stave

[shamus]

Drying and seasoning wood, from my website: http://analogperiphery.blogspot.com/2008/08/drying-and-seasoning-wood.html

hope it helps

[hedgeapple]

Thanks everyone for you helpful information.  I really appreciate the advice.

Auggie, I am starting a board bow today.  I had come to the conclusion that there's a high possibility of me ruining my first few attempts.    Boards are keeper and carry less sentimal value if they become kindling.

Dana and GregB, I'll take your advice to heart.

Shamus, awesome website thanks so much for sharing it with me.

I'll pull the osage logs out of the pond tomorrow.  The ice should be melted by then.  One loge is 66 inches about 9 inches diameter at the smallest end.  The other is 70 inches about 6 inches diameter at the smallest.  Any and all advice is greatly welcome.

[Pat B]

I would split both logs at least in half and seal the ends. Store them in a sheltered place for a while then split them down smaller.

[hedgeapple]

Thanks PatB, I'm assuming you're suggesting that I leave the bark on for now after I split them?

[Pat B]

unless you want remove the sapwood and seal the back, leave the  bark on. This time of year the bugs shouldn't be that bad and if you notice any just spray the bark with insecticide. 

[Eric Garza]

When I cut down a tree, I remove the bark, split the log into staves and trim each stave down to a blank immediately (or as fast as I can).  A blank is the length of a bow (50-75 inches, for me), 2-3 inches wide across the back of the bow, an inch deep at the handle area and thin enough (in depth) along the limbs that I can barely bend the bow-to-be to brace height.  I then sit the blank aside for a 3-6 weeks, and its dry and ready to work without any checking, despite the fact that I didn't use a drop of sealant.  I've also quick-dried these blanks in my car during the summer, and had them seasoned enough to work in 5-10 days, depending on how hot and sunny it's been.

This is the fast dry method mentioned in the Traditional Bowyer's Bibles.  I've found it works great, without fail, and it doesn't require me to buy sealant.  You just have to work real hard the day you cut the tree, and much less hard when it's time to turn the blanks into a bow later on.  It makes sense to me to do it this way, because green wood is easy to work, and seasoned wood is much harder.  It also makes it easier to sell the blanks, as shipping doesn't cost as much.

-Eric

[GregB]

We usually are cutting a tree 18-20" in diameter yielding 2 to 3 logs...and by the time we have it cut into logs and split, we're running out of steam. We might get 16 to 20 splits (might be a couple of staves to a split) or more out of a tree. After popping the bark off, scrapping that cambium layer and sealing is about all us old guys have energy left for.

[TRACY]

Those submerged osage logs might shoot out some sprouts if the conditions are right. I had a fresh sassafras log w/ sealed ends do it last fall.

[Danny Roberts]

I use toilet bowl gasket wax. Works better than anything $ can buy, to seal the ends with.

[Pat B]

Danny, makes good string wax too.

[TreyNC]

My only Osage bow was from a drowned log. the guy I got it from said they used to float logs down stream to a saw mill where a dam had been built. He claimed the saw mill and logging operation stopped about eighty years ago. Any way some body removed the dam in the stream and when drained there were logs in the mud. Well some how he got one or two and when we got my split out of it there was about 1.5-2" of rot on the outside. If I had seen that thing laying there in the mud I wouldn't have even thought to use it for fire wood. It made a great bow. The best one I have, has some character and two knot holes in one limb you can aim through!

[hedgeapple]

Great story Trey.

[hedgeapple]

The saga of the soaking osage--I had planned to remove the logs from the pond this weekend, but the pond still has about 4 inch of ice on it.  So, I can't get them out yet.  When it thaws I plan to split them into staves.  I should get at least 4 staves from each log. Per log I will seal the ends half of them with the bark on. At least on from each log I will remove the bark and seal the back and end.  At least one I will rough out to tiller stage from each log.  I will at least tung oil (maybe shellac the backs) the rough out/tiller ones primary because of a moister they've soaked up in the last couple months in the pond.  I would rather error on the side of caution.

Do you think that leaving them inside a shed would cause cracking from them being saturated and possibly freezing?

The hickory sappling that checked up the center of the belly will probably end up as firewood.  BUT, I've decided that I am going to work it out just as I had planned on doing.  Since this is my first attempt, I truly expect to screw up the first anyhow, and I can use the practice.  If it makes a bow, it makes a bow.  If it doesn't, I will have a 100 times more knowledge than I had going into this project.

I have already roughed out the hickory.  There are a few knots that I'm learning to work around.  My drawer knife is becoming my best friend.  When I'm not using it to remove alot of wood, I turn it backward (cut bevel away from me) and hold horizontally and use it as scraper to remove tiny little slivers of wood.

The hickory also has a set bending in a nice arc to the right.  The center line on the hand is 1 3/8 inche to the left of a straight line from the nocks    But that's just another opportunity to learn.  Tomorrow I'm going to steam, hand straighten and clamp it with about a 1/2 inch shim pulling the bow in the opposite direction from the arc I have now.  From what I've been reading here and else where the wood returns to about 2/3 the bend we put on them.  Does this sound about right to you all?