How to treat White Oak staves?

[redhillwoods]

l Split a White Oak log into staves and they checked heavily. Worse than Osage. Is this normal for White Oak? Should it be treated like Osage and seal the whole stave?

[Badger]

  You really answered your own questions. If it happened to you then it is normal, and yes you should seal the entire stave if you are having problems with checking.

[Pat B]

Any exposed back and end should be sealed.  How quickly did it check and where did they check?

[redhillwoods]

Thanks for the solid advice Badger. Sometimes l need to knock myself on the head to release the common sense. I'll definitely seal the whole stave in future. 
Pat, they checked along the back in about two days in my mildly heated shop. I'm not overly concerned though, I think l'll just discard them as they were from a log that l split that was stored outdoors for about a year and showed signs of rot in the sapwood. These were just a few staves that l kept as they were deeper in the log, closer to the centre. On this topic, l'm looking at another white Oak log that seems ideal for staves and was felled between 6-8 weeks ago. l'ts been sitting on the ground since. l took to heart the advice that the tree should be felled, split and the staves sealed and put in the dry immediately, but is two months of outdoor exposure acceptible (Southern Ontario).
Dave

[Digital Caveman]

Don't seal the whole thing, it needs to dry somehow, just do the ends and back.  BTW, I have never had issues with bow wood checking on the back, but I haven't done to many trees.

[Pat B]

Checks are not detrimental to bow building as long as the checks don't run off the stave. They are only a cosmetic problem/ Don't discard them, use them. 

[scp]

With white hardwood, you can ruin the whole log by leaving them on the ground just for days. Bring them inside and remove the bark, soon after felling them. I often just leave them whole but unsealed, for days until I see some cracks. Then I split them following the cracks. I have never sealed white oak logs or staves. Some eventually develop checks on the back because I did not bother to seal the back even after I floor tillered the staves. They look terrible but still are perfectly safe so long as there are no serious runoffs. I really should be starting to seal the back of all my bow staves even though they have been drying indoors for years. I do spray them with borax solution. Seal the back asap, by all means.