Do I need to seal the outside of hophornbeam staves?

[Patches]

I just got a stave of hophornbeam.  I took off the bark, split it and sealed the ends of the stave.  Do I need to seal the back of the stave or is sealing the ends enough?  I have not worked with hhb and I want to make sure I do not mess it up before I get to try to make a bow.

[MWirwicki]

Yes.  Seal where you removed the bark.  If not, you will get longitudinal checks that can go deep.

[Pat B]

Many whitewoods don't require the back to be sealed but I do just in case. It is easy enough to do. I keep Bullseye spray shellac on my workbench all the time and seal any back that has been recently uncovered. When you are ready to finish the bow you can put any finish over it. If you want to stain or dye the bow you will have to remove the shellac but that is easy with a light sanding or just wipe it off with alcohol on a rag.

[TacticalFate]

Yes, seal it. Hophornbeam WILL check badly

[osage outlaw]

I seal every piece of wood I take the bark off of, no matter what it is. 

[Marc St Louis]

HHB can check badly when harvested at certain times of the year but at other times it will not check.

[soy]

Yep seal them puppies up

[Patches]

Thanks for the help!  I got them sealed up last night.