Some more stupid questions

[old foul dude]

Finished the 64" D bow from a piece of bias grain oak backed with burlap, looked good, good tiller, thought I finally had one, till it broke while I was shooting it. So much for number two. So I went out to a friends barn and picked out a nice straight black locust fence post thats been out there for a few years. ( one half of a 10" log 7' long) Split it into 2 staves, came out one big & one small. Started working the small one today, after I removed the bark and most of the sap wood, I carved out a blank about 74" long X 1 3/4" wide X 1" thick. Then I coated the ends and back with a good coating of Elmers wood glue.  Found a lot of worms, I think most are in the sap wood, a few may have gone down to the heart wood. I also found a large knot about half way up and to one side that was hidden by the bark. When I went to check it a little while ago, I found my straight blank had turned into a warped and twisted nightmare. I don't have a camera. Any thoughts on this piece off wood? Would a few worm holes be a problem? Should I just scrap it?  Thanks

[Hillbilly]

Sounds like reaction wood, maybe cut from a leaner. I've had pieces of locust like that curl up like a shaving while I was splitting it. Don't usually see it as much in bigger trees as the small ones, though. Locust is bad to warp when it's green, but if it was cut several years ago, that shouldn't be the problem. With the borer holes, it just depends on how many and where they're at. One thing about locust, it heat-bends easy, so you may be able to get it straightened back out. I'd work the other split down too, and see what you've got.

[old foul dude]

Thanks for the reply Hillbilly, Thinking about it, those posts were stored vertical resting on a dirt floor. They probably drew a lot of moisture out of the ground. I've been searching a lot of old posts to try to build up some basic knowledge. I rubbed the stave down with bacon grease, and will store it in my heated garage to season. I hope you guys weren't pulling my leg about the bacon grease. There is a shortage of bears around here, we have a few, but they would put me under the jail if I killed one. So no bear grease for me. I have got TBB I,II,& III from the library, and bought a copy of Al Herrin's book on Cherokee bows, but reading a book is not the same as being shown by a qualified bowyer. So I'll muddle though, I've got a couple of good bows to shoot and maybe one of these days I'll build a self bow that don't break.    Later