Fresh Osage stave advise

[cutty]

A friend brought a stave for me from down South(I live in AK) he split it a week ago.
6’ x 4”w x 3”h. Looking at it I only can get one stave out of it. The back is very rounded.
Same for the rings. My plan is to strip bark, reduce width to 3”, and flatten belly.
Any advice? Also what designs would be good for a rounded back?

[Eric Krewson]

Better not strip the bark without stripping the sapwood as well, even if you seal the sapwood it will probably check and often deeply into the heart wood.

[cutty]

Copy that. I’ll shellac ends and back after. Can it stay in a shop at 50 degrees?

[SLIMBOB]

A nice crown is ideal in my opinion.

[willie]

Copy that. I’ll shellac ends and back after. Can it stay in a shop at 50 degrees?

well, if 50F is 70 more than the outside temp, it might be quite dry in your shop.
watch for checking daily and put in a cooler spot for a while if it needs to dry slower
weighing is a good way to monitor the drying weight.
it's only a week off the stump?

[Pat B]

I would seal the ends now but leave the bark on for a month to give it time to acclimatize somewhat. Then remove the bark and sapwood and seal the back well. Leave it full length and width until you can see what's under the bark and sapwood. If it is 4" across the back you may be able to split it lengthwise into 2 narrower staves. You only need 1 1/4" to 1 3/8" wide for an osage bow. However you may decide to go for one bow from this stave, better safe than sorry. Please post pics of the stave, back and ends so we can have better observations.

[bradsmith2010]

 Yep

[HH~]

What Pat said. Better to be safe.

HH~

[cutty]

Ended up removing bark and sapwood, sealed ends and back. Stored it in my shed. Temp was -10 but
+10 now. I’ll leave it for a month and check on it now and then.
 Thanks for the inputs.

[bradsmith2010]

Wow that's cold,..its like freeze dried

[Pat B]

You may not get much moisture movement at that temp. Do you have a basement or other area that is above freezing that you can store it in?

[cutty]

I could put it in the crawl space under House. At least through the winter.

[willie]

cutty

I have never dried osage, just local whitewoods, but pat has a point about getting some of the moisture out at below freezing temps might be hard to do

where ever you decide to put it too help it dry, do yourself a favor and put it someplace where you are likely to look at it whenever you walk by. I have lost some nice staves by putting them somewhere and forgetting about them for too long.
when it warms up, you might find that your out of the way place is too damp... or buggy or whatever...