new bowyer with some questions about wood

[cryostallion]

Chryo, I have about 60 staves sealed with white glue and a light scraper removes the glue quite easily. I use elmers and others. Now shellac would be a different story. As to cheat mother nature not chasing another growth ring , good luck. I tried, It didn't work for me, but maybe it will work for you, Dean Torges said that to me once. I was asking if red oak would work for backing material. He was right.Denny

then i'll be sticking with elmer's!
hey here's another one for you though: i got home after the weekend during which my staves were sitting in the barn.  before i left everything looked fine, and i just went to check on them, and several have severe checking going on in the backs.  i did the exact same thing with them all- split, stripped bark, and painted glue on- and as far as i can tell it's just at random.  some that developed the checking are really thick and some are thin.  i think it was pretty muggy over the weekend.  has this ever happened to you?

i moved them into my cool, dry basement.

[walkabout]

the gouge shouldnt be too much trouble, rawhide backing would provide some insurance if you cant chase a ring, although i would try to get the gouge out as much as possible with scraping, sanding,etc.

[denny]

If   the sap wood is too wet it will thin the glue. I always wait on white wood 24 to 36 hours before I seal. Now osage and black locust will check in that time, so I don't wait on them. Yes this has happened to me .. In the future  Take a brush and paraffin the surface and dip the ends, This will last forever.good luck Denny