cutting trees

[John K]

Hi All, I have a question for you. Next month i will be cutting an Ash tree down for staves, my question is once i have it down i'm going to split it peal the bark and seal it. I would like to know if i should seal the whole stave or leave the back alone.

I hope this makes sense    

Thanks FB

[GregB]

FB, I'd scrape off the cambium layer off the back and dry it with towells. Then seal the back and ends of the staves. Try and store them out of direct sunlight and higher temperatures where they can lose moisture more slowly.

[John K]

Thanks Greg ! That is what i'll do.

Wish me luck as this will be my first time trying to make a bow. FB

[markinengland]

I have had good results splitting the ash as soon as it is cut, peeling off the bark and sealing just the ends. Splits into half or quarters work OK so far on all the stuff I have cut, maybe 3 inches wide if a larger tree.

[tom sawyer]

I've never sealed the backs on whitewood staves.  Only very occasionally have I seen even a few checks, and those have been on wood I left in the sun.  I don't think it will hurt to coat the backs, they'll dry a bit more slowly and you'll have to carefully remove the sealant before finishing the bow.

[Hillbilly]

Better safe than sorry, but I've never had much problems with ash checking. I've had a freshly-peeled elm stave split all over, though.

[John K]

Thanks for the input everybody ! I think i will try a couple both ways and see what happens. Hopefully next year at this time i'll be shooting one of them. 

[GregB]

Must admit the vast majority of our white wood has been hickory. We've cut a lot of that and follow the method I described to the letter. We havn't worked with a lot of ash though, but I would handle it as I'm used to doing with hickory if I were cutting some for myself. We also treat hornbeam the same way when we've cut that.

[John K]

Well, I got to cut a Black Ash off the porperty i was turkey hunting on. After splitting and taking the bark off i see there is about an inch of white wood, is this the sap wood    Do i need to remove this wood or is it ok to leave on 

I sealed the ends now i just have to wait for it to dry

I tell you that was some stuff splitting on that ASH should make a good strong bow

[snedeker]

That's the sapwood alright.  Leave it on and its what you want the limbs to be comprised of. I also jjust seal the ends of ash

Dave

[Hillbilly]

Update from Hillbillyland: I cut a nice hophornbeam about 5" in diameter a couple weeks ago (only one I've ever found around here straight enough to make a bow) and carried in about a mile out of the woods on my shoulder. I split it in half,  peeled the bark off the good side, and since I don't usually have trouble with whitewoods checking, I just sealed the ends. After a few days in an unheated, dank shed, the sucker (A:) pulled itself into a nice reflex, and (B:) Checked all to hell.
Seal the back, too  

[Badger]

I would seal the back, seen too many check

[Justin Snyder]

Nobody can tell you that it will check for sure if you don't seal the back. But everyone can tell you it wont hurt anything to seal the back. With time spent looking for a descent tree to cut and cutting and hauling and splitting, another 5 minutes to seal the back is minimal.  Why take a chance on wasting that time and effort. Seal the back.  Justin

[John K]

I sealed the backs on 2, that i left up north to dry in the wood shed ( next year turkey hunting we are going to build bows )  The other 2 i only sealed the ends and they are in my house in the corner to dry. I might have to move them out of site though, since everytime i look at them i want to start shaving wood.     Will keep you posted as to the results.

[Justin Snyder]

Shave them suckers down to near bow dimensions so they dry faster.  Justin