Sealing wood

[Huaco]

So... I went ahead and cut the newly dead Dogwood.  I hope I did not screw up.  How soon after the cut should the wood be sealed?  I made all my cuts and then piled up the branches and cleaned up for the old lady who gave me the tree.  When I got home, I sealed the wood.  It was about an hour or two after the cuts were made.  I just sealed all the cut surfaces w/ wood glue.

[Dano]

You did good.

[ricktrojanowski]

I usually seal a couple hours after cutting.  To allow a little drying time so the glue or shellac sticks.  Sounds like you should be fine.  Just make sure you seal it thick on the ends.  Then when you debark seal the back up.

[Huaco]

I usually seal a couple hours after cutting.  To allow a little drying time so the glue or shellac sticks.  Sounds like you should be fine.  Just make sure you seal it thick on the ends.  Then when you debark seal the back up.

So... how soon should I debark these suckers?  I Have 2 or 3 long piecs.  The rest that was good, I saved as well for use as knife handles, knapping tools, etc.
I have a draw knife.  Is that the best way to debark? 

[Pat B]

Have you split the log? If not, do so so the moisture has a way to escape. You can remove the bark anytime but you should seal the wood under the bark so it won't check.     Pat

[ricktrojanowski]

I just debarked a couple of dogwood staves in the past week.  I used a small carvers draw knife to get the outer bark and most of the inner bark off.  Then used a scraper to get it down to the actual back of the bow.  Then I sealed it with 3 coats of shellac.

[Hillbilly]

Like Pat said, if you haven't split it yet, do it yesterday. Whole rounds will split somewhere as the outside dries. By splitting them now you can keep it from random checking-dogwood is really bad to check anyway. I would also debark them yeasterday, and seal the back of the staves. I've had a lot of good wood ruined by bugs over the years because I didn't get the bark off soon enough. The drawknife works great, just be sure to keep the beveled side down so that it doesn't dig into the wood and violate that first ring.