Stave-ation diet

[JW_Halverson]

I got some osage coming back from the Tennessee Classic while we drove thru Missouri.  Hank and I got it split out and taken down to yellow pretty quick.  I used Titebond II on the ends (3 coats of paranoia) and on the backs.  They have been resting in the garage ever since. 

For giggles I started weighing them out.  One stave in particular is getting extra attention because I got a guy that wants to make a bow right away.  I have been setting this stave in the sun every day for a few hours, especially if the wind is blowing.  It is slower losing weight, but still dropping daily. 

The best day it lost 38 grams  of it's 3.3 kilos!  That translates to an ounce and a third of it's seven and a third pounds.  Right now it is averaging 4.2 grams per day in weight loss.  My question?  Is it too soon to start hotboxing it in the car?

[Pat B]

John, reduce it to floor tiller stage and put it in the hot box but not over 90 or so degrees. If you have a small fan put it in the box too. I think the air movement has as much to do with weight loss as heat does.
Three coats of paranoia is better than checks any day! 

[JW_Halverson]

The guy isn't going to be able to get to the stave for a week or so, and I am antsy to remove moisture.  For most people, I'd be willing to rip it down to a growthring, find the outline of the bow and take it to near floor tiller...but not for this guy, he's really hands on and would rather do it himself. 

I echo your belief in air movement.  the day it really lost weight was when it was windy but only 75 degrees! 

Only one check I want, and that's a paycheck.  No checks in the mail, no bounced checks, and sure as all billy-heck, no drying checks!

[blackhawk]

He's gonna have to learn to work it at the woods pace and not his own "I need it now" pace...since even with a good instructor(you),he's not gonna make it in one day in one session...its gonna take a few sessions and 2-3 days more than likely....so have him chase a ring,lay out,and rough down to floor tiller the first session(that's more than plenty and what most first timers can do in a day starting from scratch)...then set it aside in the hot box till the next session when its ready to heat correct over a form and do some bending...then finish tiller on the third session.

[JW_Halverson]

I fully agree, blackhawk.  The wood is totally in charge.  It's ME that is champing at the bit to get this wood ready for HIM. 

I guess my question is when is it too early to start adding drying heat to a stave?

If all else fails, I do have a stave ready for him to lay into.  It will break my heart to see someone other than me lay a tool to the wood, after all, it was the stave gifted to me by the one and only Osage Outlaw from the one and only Monster Osage.

[Crogacht]

Air movement is definitely important. At least when I put washing on the line in the winter, if it's a still day it's just as wet when I bring it in, but if it's really windy then it's almost as good as summer drying even if it's quite cold.

I think it would be even more important with a stave because it's so much thicker, need that circulation.

This probably doesn't apply with a good teacher at your side, but I find if I end up doing small sessions on a stave with larger gaps in between then it turns out more successful than if I had just done it all in a day. That in between thinking time seems quite important for a newbie. Again, probably won't apply with you looking after him, and I'm sure once you're experienced you can just pump them out in a day with no worries.

[PEARL DRUMS]

You'll know it was too soon when it checks...

[JW_Halverson]

Kinda on the Del the Cat Plan, Pearlie?  Take wood off until it hinges then back up?

[RyanR]

I can appreciate your enthusiasm for working that Osage. I just got done chasing a ring from a stave from that very same monster osage tree.

[JW_Halverson]

The stave drying is NOT from the Monster Osage, that stave is my emergency backup if dry this one too fast and screw it up.  This one was cut early May this year. 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Id suggest taking it down to a 2 x 2 cross section and let the breeze blow. Easy on the heat. Hell, Id appreciate a stave like that! Them 1/4's are bulky.

[bubby]

We live in a instant gratification world, but if he's building an old school bow he needs to learn some old school patience jw, he ain't earned the right to the monster stave, do like Blackhawk says and teach him right, hell I have a dry stave I'll trade you so you hold on to the monster 

[JW_Halverson]

Again, this is not his champing at the bit, it is me wanting to make sure his stave is as close to ready as I can make it.

This piece I chose is the best (in fact the only) stave suited for the job of making a longbow.  No pin knots, good grain, and excellent early/latewood ratio, and best of all, few heat corrections will be needed. 

[bentstick54]

All the more reason to be patient. Those clean, straight staves are premium.

[Prarie Bowyer]

Working from staves is new to me and I have a ton of questions.  But I know this, wen it start feeling like I'm in a hurry and start trying to get creative to speed things up (in general) I can smell mess coming and it looks like a big mistake.

I'm not sure why Osage differs from other woods which can be kiln dried almost immediately.  Some woods do change texture and feel. 

I air dry a lot of large carving blocks and I know that smaller tends to reduce checks.  Heavily painted ends are a big step and get it out of the round shape.  Split in half is better than nothing but create squares removing as much sap from a radius as possible and cut out the dead center.

I don't know that sap wood has the strength to split the wood.  I think it is because the tree is round with more moisture and more shrinking to do at the outside edge.  It is going to pull against something.  Remove the center crack so it can't pull from there.

I have a 6x8 can't of pear that I milled by sawing the middle of the log then square up and maximize heart wood.  Hardly cracked but once down the center.  The widest part is now what was the center of the tree.  That part bows outward now.  The beam is long and straight.

This has me wondering how small I can split the logs I'm harvesting now.  I'll resaw at least one.  Planing on 2"wide quarter sawn flitches with as much sap as I can manage with the saw removed.  Then when dry finish taking them down to 5/4.  The rest I'll split following the bible's size guidelines.