The mere fact that you have 8 osage logs tells me you do not live close to me. Otherwise, I'd be on your doorstep with an axe, hatchet, splitting maul, wedges, some of my homemade pork breakfast sausage and honey from my bees, and some homebrewed beer. We'd get some biscuits and gravy in our bellies and go to gettin' splittin' done, son!
As Pat said, get those ends sealed immediately. You can do it by slopping on wood glue, or latex paint, or shellac, or polyurethane, or just about any of the usual wood finishes used on furniture/etc. The idea is to stop moisture loss from the ends of the logs. I know, you WANT moisture loss, right?
Well, yes, but because the capillaries in the wood open up on the ends, you can get moisture loss at too rapid a rate and cause the wood to begin splitting. I know, you WANT to split the wood, right?
Well,yes, but when the wood does the choosing of where it wants to split, it may split in such a manner that you end up with too much waste from staves splitting in inconvenient places.
Next, split them. But don't aim your splits like you do for firewood, avoiding running a split through a knot. Instead, try to run your splits into the knots so that the body of the stave runs through the knot-free wood. when the split gets to a knot, you can use a stout chisel (or several) and a big hammer to work your way through a small bite at a time. If you are good with a chainsaw, you can also do a plunge cut with the tip to go through a knot, too. I have also seen people do a plunge cut with a circular saw. I tried it once and found that a wobbly log, a non-flat surface, and a rapidly spinning vicious blade was just more hair-raising than I was up for whilst cold sober.
Once split out, you can start debarking and taking off the sapwood. Feel free to take your time on this process because it is a lot of work. But if you are gonna stop the job for a break, slop something on the exposed back of the wood to seal it up. (same stuff you used on the ends works, too) The stave backs need to be sealed or they will crack and check like mad, leaving you with wood useful only for fires. The sides and the belly of the stave will be fine, just seal the back and the ends.
If you are storing indoors, you are good to go now. If storing outdoors or in a garage, you may want to spend the money on a couple of cans of insecticide to spray down the wood, keeping any wood-boring bugs from getting in and swiss-cheesing your stash. No one wants to see their hard-earned gold turned into useless sawdust.
Lastly, load up all the prepared staves and send me a private message so I can give you my address for delivery. And thanks for doing all the hard work for me. Mighty nice of you, brother!
