Wind checks ??

[Joec123able]

So first off are these wind checks And how are they caused ?? This is the Osage stave that just keeps popping up problemS I did alittle research on here it looks like there's many bows with checks through the limb that work fine so they should be ok

[huisme]

I'd excavate a bit to make sure there isn't a bunch of punk wood in there. If all goes well I'd probably wrap the limb with sinew to help keep it together.

[Joec123able]

I'd excavate a bit to make sure there isn't a bunch of punk wood in there. If all goes well I'd probably wrap the limb with sinew to help keep it together.

 That limb is still over an inch thick the deepest check barelygoes through the limb so I'm not worried about them much just want to know how they're caused mostly

[huisme]

Oh. Well, then, I'm useless I've never had found wind checks in my wood.

[Hamish]

It looks like cracks that commonly occur around the pith. Not necessarily wind checks, which from memory are around the ring, rather than radial like these are. Wind checks supposedly develop from strong wind, or when a big tree is blown over by wind, or pushed over by a bulldozer. I don't know what causes the type in your stave but they are pretty common in osage and many other trees.
Wood around the pith can be punky, and for some reason if you don't remove early in the process like huisme said  it will check deeper as it dries.

These cracks are well centred in the belly and pose no problems with integrity. It looks like you have already sealed the area. As you work the stave into a bow a lot of these cracks will lessen and maybe even  disappear.  Re seal them  when you take a break, because they tend to try and deepen themselves. Some kind of internal stress relief, different to the rest of the piece of wood.
If they are still there near the end of tillering you can fill them with sawdust mixed with epoxy.

[Joec123able]

Ahh ok thanks hamish I belive most of the checks will be gone in the limbs but the handle will have lots of them which should look cool if ya ask me This stave is from a very large branch

[PatM]

Wind "shakes" is the term. It's hard to say if cracks are shakes or checks unless the history of the wood is known. I would think that most cracks are just caused by drying rather than wind. I wouldn't think Osage is prone to this anyway

[Joec123able]

Wind "shakes" is the term. It's hard to say if cracks are shakes or checks unless the history of the wood is known. I would think that most cracks are just caused by drying rather than wind. I wouldn't think Osage is prone to this anyway

Well the staves that came from this tree came from a tree tht was planted right along a fence line in a grass field so my assumption is they were planted as wind breaks or as fences decades and decades ago

[Hamish]

This type of defect is pretty common, probabably most of the osage I have cut has something like that in it. It can really crack a handle if its from a branch or sapling. Seal the endgrain at the handle really well, many guys don't do this. If it does crack you can glue wedges or  shims into the area when it is fully dry.

[PatM]

Shakes are also between growth rings and apparently caused by a bacterial weakening of the early/latewood line. Pretty sure those are just typical drying checks. Lots of Osage bows on here show that.

[Weylin]

I had cut some yew last year that had what I considered shakes. In this case they were separations between growth rings, like Pat said. I could literally pull a stave length section of heart wood off the stave with my hands in some cases. It hasn't prevented me from making a bow out of them yet but it's come close. I have my fingers crossed for the others like that.

[George Tsoukalas]

That looks like a wind shake which is caused by the wind bending the trunk. Here is a pretty good graphic illustration of wind defects. Jawge
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=aaplw&va=wood+defects