osage blank from selecting tree to blank

[yazoo]

first photo, selecting a tree with good wood, you are looking for healthy bark mostly found on younger trees,I have found the rusty colored loose bark, does not have good earlywood to latewood ratio, I may look at a hundred or more trees before I select one to cut,If I am not sure I will cut a small notch near the ground to check the ring quality before cutting,I here people say that there is no bad osage,, yes there is bad osage leave it in the woods,
 next photo felling the big osage, this tree had 5 cuts on it, this tree was 2 miles from the road ,I use a 4 wheeler to drag them out,

  bucking the tree into 6ft blocks, lot of bows in this osage

  my dad picking out a log for this demo,

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[yazoo]

next photo tools needed, small starter wedge very sharp, up to 12 pound wedge on the end small ax and plenty of sledge hammers,
 next photo starting the small wedge always look for a natural crack to start the wedge in, dont force anything,
 
 next one continue splitting the log out to the end, I never saw kerfs, always follow the natural grain then spliting off the stave we will use

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[Ryano]

Mike, how come your pictures are so small and crooked and upside down? lol...
That log pile makes me sick, you truely are the osage monger.....
Looks like that log your busting has some twist to it.

[Eric Krewson]

I like your log holder, never thought of that. Definately a back saver opposed to splitting a log on the ground.

[yazoo]

the first time I ever started splitting wood, I raised the wood up to me, so I dont need to bend over,   ryan I am very lucky to have the rights to cut osage on about 1800 acres of which over half is osage, I just drive the back roads going door to door asking will you sell those osage trees,,sometimes they say yes

[yazoo]

first photo is the stave seclected,when chosing a stave or tree the only thing that matters is the earlywood to latewood ratio, pins,knots, twist, crookedness  the only thing that matters is that it is quality wood,

second photo, bark removed and bow laid out, I narrow the limbs to 2in tapered down to 1in at tips

 third photo  sides are narrowed to size, roughed shaped

 forth photo  sapwood removed to 1st heart wood ring belly is thinned to about 1in,as we will remove to the proper ring in one year, seal the ends of the blank with tite bond 2, then coat the entire blank with shellac, date the blank put in your drying racks  for one year, after one year break it out like a fine bottle of wine

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[Ryano]

Mike, now if I could just talk you into leaving them babys full width through the handle while there drying......They always warp there when you narrow them to soon. Lets see a picture of your bandsaw. I bet you got a doozy with all the cutting your doing. 

[Timo]

Mike, I'm curious about the woods where you cut all this glorious wood. Seems to be fairly open? Here, there are trees stacked up against trees,hardly ever find any wood in the open areas that is worth a dang.

Also, curious as to why you use glue on the ends instead of shellac like the rest of the stave? Have you had problems with end checking useing shellac?

Sorry so many questions,always looking for a better way. Man that one tree is a whopper!

[Bear]

Great how-to, Mike. Can't wait  to get back over when I'm not so pressed.

Ryano,
After visiting Mike's all you can see is yellow for about 24 hours.

[yazoo]

I have always went ahead and narrowed the handle before i work the back,thats less work I have to do on the back,I heat straighten them later anyway, Its not much extra work but when you do a lot, it saves a lot          timo, the very best osage here is found out in the big woods growing under the big oaks,in the shade,there it is forced to grow up not out,and you get those long tall straight ones with many cuts per tree,its common to get 50 or more staves per tree, when the osage grows in thickets it grows out not up,, we have some hedge rows here, but I have found the wood to old and rust colored and inferior,    and ryan I will do my blanks this week without narrowing the handles, a lot of people have a wine seller I have a osage seller I age them for 1 year, then time to go to work

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[yazoo]

I almost forget I have had problems with shellac on the ends that Is why I always glue the ends of the staves,tite bond the ends there is no chance of a crack,every time I get a crack thats money out of my pocket,and they are empty anyway, especally with spring or summer cut wood, I will dip the last 6in of both ends of the stave,because when the sap is up there is a lot of water trying to get out,we want the water to evaporate out of the back , belly and sides not the ends, a single layer of shellac is not water proof, it is used to put an even layer on the bow to allow the mosture to escape evenly, thats why I dont use poly, to water proof , cracks are formed when water escapes unevenly, some times  if the ends are the weakest point the mosture will migrate there and will crack even with shellac,

[TRACY]

I know just how that turkey feels after cutting and splitting a load of osage Nice looking bird, congrats.

Tracy

[yazoo]

he gave all he could

[Dean Marlow]

yazoo here is something else you can use to seal the ends of your staves. Get some Gulf Wax and melt it down and just dip the ends of your stave in it. It really works great when it is cold out and the other stuff won't dry because it is to cold. You can get Gulf Wax in most grocery stores in the canning department. One little box of it does a-lot of staves. Just get the wax hot enough where it is starting to smoke and dip your staves in it. As soon as you pull it out it is sealed.

[yazoo]

yea I have used it before,I use the wood glue because it is already on there, I carry a gal of glue in the woods when I cut the trees, when the sap is up I glue them within 1 minute of the tree hitting the ground, I just coat them again when I split them , later,I want the mosture blocked on the ends, and even evaporation on the other four sides,