how to proceed-hackberry and dogwood staves

[sadiejane]

good morning everyone-
cut a cupla trees yesterday and wanted some advice on what to do from here.
both are a tad over 6' long
one is a 4" diameter hackberry from a pals place.
he is working on a nice bow from a similar tree
this is a really nice clean looking piece of wood(but sometimes the bark can fool ya)

the other is a dogwood from my folks yard.
its about 6" in diameter
(has a few smallish knots and one larger one but i believe i can use the other side-maybe even split)
my pops planted it from a sapling he dug up off some family land in arkansas and planted in their yard some thirty years ago.
this one died about two years ago. the summer following my mothers passing.
but it has no rot nor bugs that i can tell-appears to be a very solid piece of wood
so its sorta a sentimental piece for me
hoping to make a bow that shoots
it will be a medicine bow-a tribute to the good life my mother and pops gave me
have sealed the ends with glue
what shld i do now?
havent worked with either of these woods before
shld i remove bark? leave alone for a while?
get em shaved down to rough bow shape?
dont have any place inside i can put em to control humidity.
just the garage or shed.
its getting that time for bugs-shld i treat em with a pesticide?

what would you do if these two pieces of wood were sitting in yr yard?

sure would appreciate any suggestions yall offer.
thanks!

[randman]

If that dogwood tree has been dead standing for 2 years, it should be well on it's way to a good seasoning already. If it were me I would rough shape any staves you get out of it to determine how dry they are. At least roughing them out will speed up the final drying process. I got a few large branches from a neighbors removal of a large dogwood tree in her yard. It was pretty tough to split. I had to score the split lines with a skil saw before using wedges. The smaller branches I just bandsawed to rough shape. It's wonderful wood to work with edge tools and very strong.

[sadiejane]

thanks randman-appreciate your suggestions
that tree did not put on leaves nor buds nor anything for the past two summers
but i was quite surprised just how "green" the wood appears when it was cut.

yeah i think i might just "get er done"

same with the hackberry
the pal who i got it from is working on one right now.
he just cut it about a month ago and has it to bow shape.
greased it well and
now its hanging from a ceiling light fixture in his living room.
he heats that room mostly with the fireplace. figuring that would help the drying along.
thanks again

[k-hat]

Hackberry just needs sealing on the ends, you can even go ahead and debark it without sealing the back.  I have a stash just like that that never checked at all on the back even after bark removal.  If you cut it down to stave dimensions though, it may start warping and twisting on you, so maybe just halfsies for a bit, then quarter up after it's dried a bit.   Course you could go on and rough it out and clamp it to a form while green i hear and it'll dry in a few weeks.  Hackberry's a pleasure to work, and smells wonderful when heated   Can't wait to try smoking some meat with some of my scrap pieces! 

Hackberry can be difficult to split, but if it's straight you can do as Randman suggested and cut down the length with a circle saw.  Get it as deep as you can imo, mine only went about 1.5" and the other side sure didn't wanna come apart as easily as i split it!

Do give it a pesticide treatment and keep indoors if possible.  Bugs find it easy to work too

Good luck with whatever you do with it!

[turtle]

With dogwood i always dry it with the bark on.Makes it real hard to scrape off after dry.but it wont split on ya.

[Pat B]

Any dead standing tree scares me as far as bow wood goes. It may make a bow but fungi moves into wood as soon as it dies and beging the decay process. Fungi do need moisture to survive but just being still attached to the roots will draw moisture up into the wood through capilary action.
  As long as you are aware and careful while building a bow with the dogwood you might get lucky and get a bow or two out of that dogwood.

[druid]

Cut threw the half dogwood an dry it with bark. First few weeks place it in some high moisture room, then decrease moisture level slowly to desired air moisture where you will finish drying.