Check this out.I broke 2 staves in less than 15 minutes yesterday.I had been shooting both of them,attempting to finish them up most of the summer,but due to our very high humidity,kept having to put it off,due to moisture incurred set,and ever-changing tiller.Our RH dropped down to 55% yesterday,and I hoped to finish them up.I braced the American elm stave first,took a look at it on the tiller board,then drew it 26" and boom,both limbs broke.I then went to the cherry stave,did the same thing,and POW,top limb failure.I don't have many staves break on me,and this is my first double for sure.The failures were a combination of a couple of factors.First,I'm not much on this specie of elm,(it split too easy),preferring the more dense species,like slippery or winged elm,but it was what I had to work with at the time.Secondly,I had gotten a little liberal with heat treating this wood,trying to get all I could get out of it.The bad part of the deal is that earlier this summer,while too wet to tiller, I laid out 9 staves and put them on the forms.I am hesitant to try any of this wood ,after this failure.What do ya'll think? God Bless
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