I did some cutting today....

[HickoryBill]

I made a pretty good score on wood at my uncles today. I cut 4 pieces of sassafras, and 3 pieces of apple(not sure what kind) for bow wood. I've never worked apple before but I know that most fruit bearing trees will make good bows. I thought I saw a post by DanaM where he made a bow from apple??? A couple of the pieces are big enough to yield 2 good staves. And the best part: most of the wood is straight and knot free!!!  Any Idea how to treat these logs as far as dry time, debarking, and how long to wait for splitting??

The wood on the left is the sassafras, wood on the right is the apple

[Pat B]

With small diameter logs it is difficult to split and get two good staves.  If you are sure the grain is straight(not spiral growth) you can band saw them in haly.When I do this with green wood I tie them back together with small wood spacers between to allow air flow. If you don't contain them they will draw up into too much backset and can twist. If I want backset I add it later.

[crooketarrow]

   Pats right sassafras's warps big time. Make sure your staves are well seasoned before you start. Never make and apple bow but my friend did a billet take down bow that turner out really good and snappy. I was Impressed with it.

[HickoryBill]

How long should I wait to debark and split?

[profsaffel]

Had you posted this title on a forum somewhere else in cyberspace, it would have an entirely different meaning/reaction 

Anyway, I've always been wary of cutting small diameter trees like these. My success rate of not having the wood dry to quickly and crack or warp severely has been low. I'll keep an extra eye out for these posts for better ways of handling small wood. Thanks for sharing.

-Prof

[Pat B]

Once the staves are split there is no reason to remove the bark until they are dry. I'd give them a few months at least. This is not to say you can't make a bow sooner with one or two of the staves but for the majority I'd give them at least a few months. Being split(sawn) the moisture has a place to escape and especially when wrapped together with the spacers between the two halves.
  I've used this method twice with osage on 2" to 3"  diameter poles. The first time I sawed the osage pole in half and let it dry. Both halves drew up with 6" to 8" of backset and twisted. It took a lot of heat toi get them to reasonable staves to build a bow and on the one I tillered out, it developed a crack across the back because of the excess stressing just pulling the stave outof reflex and into deflex as I tillered.   On my most recent attempt I gave the poles about 2 weeks to a month before sawing it in hlaf(with the bark left on). Once I did that I bound them together with small spacers between the two and left them like that foe a few months before unwrapping. After unwrapping, both drew into a small amount of reflex but were relatively straight without twists. When I get around to building a bow I will add reflex is it is needed and if it is needed.

[HickoryBill]

Thanks Pat. You think the apple will make a good bow? The biggest apple pole is really straight and knot free.

[DEllis]

I have never tried it but have heard apple makes a good bow for what it's worth..........supposed to check bad while seasoning if done wrong though........just a heads up.
Darcy

[Pat B]

Bill, yes, it will make a very good bow. I've never used it but have seen a few very nice apple bows.
 I have a plum tree I planted 10 years ago. 2 or 3 years ago it sprouted a sucker from under the graft. From the leaves it looks like a peach but I don't know what the rootstock is. Being that it was a sucker it grew straight up through the canopy of the plum and over the top so this "pole" grew about 7' before it put out branches. It looks like it will flower this year so I want to see if it will fruit and if not I'll cut it before fall.

[Lee Slikkers]

Nice job Hickory Bill...I got a similar "wild hair" bug going this morning and did some more harvesting of my own.