Osage?

[Ozzy]

I just got a osage stave from a friend it is many years down and dry .
 I will not have the time to get the back done all at once
 should I seal it as I go or will what I get done be fine?
If so what should I use?
Thanks for any in put .             
             Ozzy

[Bill Skinner]

How wet is it where you are?  If it is dry with low humidity, I wouldn't bother, unless you are going to be chasing a ring for a couple of months.  If it is going to be a three year bow, seal the ends with something.  It fits the better safe than sorry story.  I am not an expert, if some of the experianced bowyers chime in, do what they say.  Bill

[HoBow]

Don't bother sealing it everytime you take a break, but if you're working on it slowly with several months break, then you might want to consider sealing it.  The wood should be plenty dry, so no worries. 

[Pat B]

I keep spray shellac on my work bench all the time. For the last few years I have been sealing a freshly chased back ring no matter how well seasoned it is. I have had checks occur in well seasoned wood and the shellac is cheap enough and easy to remove later before adding your final finish so why take chances with good bow wood.

[gstoneberg]

Really?     I'm horribly slow at finishing bows and I've never had a seasoned osage stave crack when I took the back to a ring and then spent months completing the bow.  I've been so slow that one of the limbs darkened before I got the other one done.  Both of the places I've lived and built osage bows (Nebraska and north Texas) have  humid summers and dry winters.  I certainly have had bow backs crack when I worked them before the wood was fully seasoned.  So far I've never had one of those cracks kill a bow as they've always gone right down the bow limb.  They look bad, but the bows shot fine.  With green wood, I stay one ring above the target ring and seal it the minute I stop using the draw knife.  After I believe it to be dry I take the last ring off and leave it unsealed.  We have 3 bows with their backs done now in the shop and not a one is sealed.  On the green one, it got 2 cracks while I was chasing a ring in the hour it took to do the other limb, but nothing since then and it is now unsealed after drying a few weeks and then taking that last ring off.

I guess I've been lucky (or need to do a lot more bows  ).  But, if I were working your well seasoned stave Ozzy, I would not seal it.  On the other hand, it certainly does not hurt.

George

[George Tsoukalas]

I keep polyacrylic handy. Takes a second to coat the back. Jawge

[Alpinbogen]

Once it's seasoned, there's no need seal the back in between working sessions.  The only trouble I've have with seasoned staves checking is those that I've stored in the basement (lower temps / somewhat higher humidity =wood equilbration at a higher MC) and blasted them with a heat gun without any time upstairs or in a hot box to drive off the last couple of percent moisture.

[Ozzy]

Thanks for all the help I will need it .
My shop has no heat should I bring the bow in when I'm not working on it?
 Thanks again Ozzy

[gstoneberg]

I wouldn't bring it inside unless you intend to work on it in the house.  I left mine in the unheated barn in Nebraska during the winter without a problem.

George