Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: FlintWalker on February 15, 2009, 07:47:59 pm
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I love osage, it's my favorite bow wood. But I'm stocking up on some other things to try one of these days...just in case I run out of osage. ::)
The first pic is some nice ERC staves and a pretty good HHB.
The second pic is some hackberry and the third is persimmon. I got 4 logs from the persimmon, but the best was the butt log and next one up. The top part had some twist.
I also cut a dandy winged elm yesterday. Anyone who's ever complained about splitting osage, should split a winged elm. I guarantee you'll change you tune.
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Dang Shannon, you been busy. :o I'll take a hackberry and a persimon. ;) Never worked either of those yet. ;)
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Well, your just having all the fun Shannon! Wish I could come on up and range around with ya for a few days. Some good lookin staves ya have there..
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Nice staves. Looks like you'll have some fun. Jawge
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Ryan, there's one of each with your name on it. ;)
Paul, I wish you could too. I would have liked the help splitting that elm. ;D
George, I'm already having fun. 8)
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Nice wood Shannon. They should keep you out of trouble....maybe! ;D
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Shannon don't forget to spray the back of those staves if you leave the bark on very long with some kind of insecticide. Worms will eat them up when it warms up if you don't. By the way you got some nice staves there. Dean
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I was on the phone with Shannon while he cut and split the ERC, Hackberry and Persimmon
so he did all that one handed :o Ya wern't kidding when ya said it was real nice Persimmon :)
Nice haul
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Nice haul,looks like you got plenty to keep you busy. :)
Pappy
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Good looking staves Shannon! You're going to have fun getting that bark off. ;)
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Nice haul, particularly if what I thought was the elm actually was. Hopefully the sap has started in your part of the country. I'd check a few pieces and if so I'd get rid of all the bark except the ERC. WW bark is full of pestulance.
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I was removing a few trees the other day and one dogwood I cut was pouring sap from the stump.
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Nice staves.
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David, that Elm I cut had a very rough bark and the limbs and twigs had little corky wings growing off the sides of them. An absolute bear to split too, so I'm pretty sure it was winged elm.
I plan to only keep one or two staves of each species for myself. Do you think the rest will be ok with the bark left on them, till the Classic?
I never dealt much with white woods and don't really know what I can get away with. I usually store all my staves in my basement and never spray them with anything.
Of all that wood, which one would you all say the bark needs to come off of ASAP?
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Shannon, I had some HHB that got buggy in a month or less with bark on. Luckily, I had de-barked half the log, so I still got a nice stave or two (HHB is really rare here, especially ones that aren't gnarly and twisted.) Bugs are bad to get into ERC sapwood quick here, too. That's some of the straightest, untwisted-est persimmon I've seen-I split a pipe-straight log with straight bark last year, and it had nearly half a turn of twist in it. And yep, elm doesn't much like to be split at all. :)
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Shannon, I'd be taking the bark off of everything except the cedar if you're up to it. I doubt it will come off very easy this early. Any of it you plan to keep, I'd try and remove the bark now. The best time to cut white wood is when the sap is up. As you know, osage is fine anytime...probably better actually in the winter because of less moisture the stave will have to lose. :)
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I took the bark of one each of HHB, Elm, hackberry and persimmon last night. The bark came off without any trouble. I had to scrape off a little cambium, but it wasn't any trouble. I done those four staves in less than an hour. Does this stuff require sealing on the back? I hate sealing the back of a stave. >:( It makes getting the kind of finish I like on a bow harder to obtain.
Also, are there any secrets to cleaning up this HHB. It seems that any scraping levels out those little fine ridges on the back of the stave. I'd like to save as much of that as possible?
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Glad that bark popped off okay for you...that was a surprise this time of year. As for the ridges in the hhb, I've always sanded mine down. Yes, I would seal the backs or they will probably check.
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It didn't pop off Greg, I had to draw knife it off. It still wasn't very hard to do though. ;) Thanks for the help. :)
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In terms of sealing, after the first day or so it becomes less important, if you got away with it. They'll shed water real quickly sans the bark. Keep them in a relatively wet place for a while, maybe throw a tarp over them. You just want to slow down the drying on the newly exposed wood for a few days/weeks. Definately don't want to leave one out in the sun and wind. Leave stuff like elm fairly large so it won't curl up into noodly shapes as it cures. If you do break it down, get down to near bow size and put it on a caul or something to help train it initially.
I'll swap you something for a perty stick 'o dat winged elm, if you've a notion and enough to share. I just need a little piece, nothing like a whole big quarter or whatever. Mostly I got osage for trade. Maybe have a look see at Pappy's in May. May be able to work a big quarter down and fetch off what part I'd need leaving enough for another bow. Might depend on whether you or Pappy has a bandsaw to part one say 2-3" thick, cuz I ain't looking to split out a stave from elm! 1 1/2" x 72" wide would be plenty for me.
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David, I'm sure we can come up with something while we're at Pappys ;)