Oceanspray takedown, phase 1

[Fred Arnold]

Steve, I'm going to watch this one closely. I have the stave you sent me hanging on the rack and haven't removed the bark yet. Would you recommend getting it off and closer to bow dimensions?

[steve b.]

Hey Fred.  That stave is hazelnut and I have a ton of it and have never seen any checking.  I would take the bark off asap just because it may be easier to remove it early, before it hardens.  Otherwise, no, it shouldn't matter.

[Don Case]

Hi Steve
I hope you won't consider this hi-jacking. This is my stave. It's 71 1/2" long, 2 1/4" at the bottom,1 1/2" at the top. It has about 2" of reflex. After I bandsawed the belly I got a couple of checks where I didn't cut right to the pith so I panicked and shellaced the whole thing. The chunk on the right is one of the slabs I took off. It has had no special treatment and has not checked. I think this backs up your method.
Don

[Bryce]

Don you did the right thing if you didn't seal the area around the handle it would have split right through. OS only checks to the rounds pith and stops. When something round shrinks to quickly it's found to break or crack at the weakest point. Like a wet donut set out in the sun the moisture leaves and cracked form, now if you slow down the speed at which the moisture leaves the wood has a chance of dealing with the stress and the moisture can leave at a much more even rate.

What Steve is doing is making it to where the donut can only shrink one way eliminating checking for the most part. There is still a very small risk if a split developing in the bottom of the pith tunnel but is nothing to worry about with OS.

(Sorry about the hijack steve)
I cut the belly wood off and seal the belly of the handle and a line down through the middle over the pith so it won't want to split and the wood was dry in a couple month. tie the stave down bc it will move around while drying

[steve b.]

I didn't post this thread to show people the right way to do anything, but to open up some chit chat about OS, so this is great.

Yea, regardless of what is causing the checking, I thought that leaving the bark on is slowing the drying process whether the stave is depithed or not, and that bark on would cause uneven drying.  All I know is that if you debark and don't depith the thing will blow apart.  And if you don't debark or depith the thing will blow apart.  Not sure about depithing and not debarking.  I just want even drying.

Like Don said, if you leave even a thin layer of wood over the pith it will check through there.  I have slabs of OS laying everywhere outside and none are checking. 

If you take a debarked and depithed stave and cut a shallow slice in it, it will check there.  So the weak spots like knots and rot start checking too.  With those I superglue asap and slow the drying by sealing that area or with the sleeping bag.

sb

[Dan K]

Thanks for the thread Steve. Glad to see your experiments are proving out!  I have a couple staves checking real bad but on the belly so I'll just cut them out. I have a couple we cut early spring that haven't checked...yet. I think I'll try your approach on one at leased.

[Don Case]

Are these of any concern? Actually these ones will be removed but I think there is some on the back. They don't look that strong to me.
Thanks
Don

[Don Case]

Here's a couple more pictures as I was cutting down into them. They look like they might be cracks caused by snow load that have healed over. Or something completely different.
Any ideas?
Don

[Don Case]

And one last picture. Each one off those lumps has these things in it.

[Bryce]

Nothing to worry about don.

[steve b.]

Don, there's no question that those are cracks and therefore weakness.  I would worry but I'd build the bow anyway as you don't have a lot of choice in dealing with them. 
Probably they are growing up through swirls/knots in the wood.  You can tell when you are drawknifing on the belly as the knife will dig into those areas showing you that the grain is swirling.  Those areas usually split open on the vinemaple staves that I've steamed and I can see the grain flaw so I personally would leave that area stiff during tillering. 

If I cut a stave short and the cutoff has a knot like you show then I would steam the piece and see if it opens up there, or make a small bow from a cutoff slab and overstress the swirl with a hefty bend.

In your first pic I'd be less concerned about the worm lines and small edge knots.

[Don Case]

Steve
I kerfed the handle like you did and it's drying nicely. I got one little check by the kerf and when I looked at it I noticed that the kerf was opening like a clam. I figured the sapwood was shrinking faster then the heartwood so I shellaced the back of the handle area. Now the kerf is closing back up. Anyway my question is what do you plan to do with the kerf? Will you cut a strip of OS and glue it in or is it a good spot to put an accent piece?
Don

[Bryce]

Would be cool to fill with another dark wood. Ebony, african black wood, purpleheart, or horn!
I bet ebony dust/glue mixture would be the easiest

[bow101]

Be interesting to see how it drys..without over checking, shrinking etc... Is there any Hawthorn or Choke cherry in your area, it is more forgiving when it comes to seasoning.......etc

[Don Case]

It's drying quite well. I de-barked it except for 6" at each end. I shellacked the ends and the back of the handle. It's been sitting in the garage on my workbench for about five weeks and the only check has been the one I mentioned three posts back. The RH has hovered around 70-80% for most of that time so that's probably worked in my favor. The only bow wood I've found so far are Ocean Spray, Douglas Maple, Pacific Crabapple, Saskatoon(Serviceberry), Cascara and back up in the hills there will be Yew. There is Hawthorn around but it's mostly ornamental(in gardens).  Most of the above are small, so I will mostly be making sapling bows. There is a lot of cascara but I haven't read really glowing reports on it.