Black locust seasoning

[Deo]

In the next few weeks or months I am going to cut down a black locust tree about 4 inches in diameter and a branch  7-8 inches in diameter. Can I take off all the bark and sapwood and let is season like that with out worring about checking, or is it better to leave it all on and let is season? Another question is, how long do i let it season before I can work it into a bow? Can I let the staves  season a year with the bark and sapwood then reduce the backs to one growth ring and into a rough bow shape and let them season a liittle more? thanks for your replys.

[George Tsoukalas]

You can let it season indefinitely of you leave the bark on.  If you remove the bark, you may as well get close to the ring you want -may be the next heartwood ring up but you don't have to. Either way you need to seal the back  up with poly or it will check  quicker you can say "black locust". You should have sealed the ends yesterday. Jawge

[Hillbilly]

Locust checks easily, like Jawge said. Either leave the bark on, or take the sapwood off and seal the back. 4" is a bit small to get much heartwood on a locust, too.

[ricktrojanowski]

I just cut some BL.   Depending on where you are located,  the bark should come off really easily now.  This is the first time I cut locust this time of year and was amazed at how easy the bark cleaned off.   I then coated it with 4 thick coats of shellac, and sealed the ends with a heavy layer of titebond.  Even if your stave is mostly sapwood, you can still get a bow out of it.

[George Tsoukalas]

Remember that the sapwood eventually becomes heartwood in a tree so if you don't have enough heartwood to make a bow then get as close to the heartwood as possible. The sapwood will be stronger. Jawge

[VenomBOWslinger]

Hey my brother inlaw have a few hundred tress cut down recently of locust I never used it and all my books have it listed maybe I should go and split me som staves... 

Russ

[Deo]

thank you for your comments. Just one more question? How long do i wait before I can start carving the staves into bows?

[George Tsoukalas]

Let as is every 3 inch of stave takes a year or so depending on where you live. Around here in NH  it takes  a year per stave. Jawge

[Hillbilly]

You can rough a stave out to about floor-tiller stage right now and seal the back and ends really good. It'll dry pretty fast (like a couple months in a house with the a/c on), and you can be working on it while your other staves are drying.