Today’s hickory harvest

[Stickhead]

I’ve had my eye on this tree for a while, but somebody (Pearlie, maybe) convinced me to wait until spring, so the bark would come off easily.  Boy, was he right!  It popped right off without even trying!

Pics are the first batch of staves, and the remaining tree I still need to cut and split.  There’s Still 40-50 staves in her.

This is my first hickory harvest, so let me know if I’m doing something wrong.  I got the ends sealed.  Do I need to seal the backs too?  They’re quite wet at this point.

[Bayou Ben]

Dang, nice haul! 
Not sure about sealing the back on hickory. 
I do as a precaution on all of mine though. 

[bjrogg]

Very nice haul. I would seal the backs. It is normally necessary to seal exposed backs on staves. I remember someone saying you didn't have to on a certain type wood but I don't remember what it was. I always seal them. Your main objective is to get the staves to lose moisture through exposed belly. If they lose moisture through back it will shrink and check. If you reduce belly to closer to bow dimensions it will help speed drying and help prevent checking
Bjrogg

[kbear]

 

Wow....... what a haul!

[Swampman]

Wow, that looks like a nice bunch of wood.  I have had mixed results with hickory regarding dealing the backs.  I have never sealed the back on hickory and it was all fine.  However in the last hickory tree I cut, I did have one stave check on the back. 

I guess 90% of my hickory staves survived without the back sealed. 

[Stickhead]

Thanks for the input, guys.  I went ahead and sprayed the backs with sealant.  Got at least two more batches like this to go.  Maybe this year I’ll break down and get a bandsaw.  Not sure what I’ll do with all these yet, but they’ll all find a home one way or another.

[bradsmith2010]

that is some beautiful wood,,,,

[Hamish]

Good decision to seal the backs, hickory loves to check on the back.  I was debarking some winter cut hickory on a windy day, I left one for a couple of hours and came back to find it checking. I always seal them as I process them.

[JW_Halverson]

Not sure what I’ll do with all these yet, but they’ll all find a home one way or another.

Don't forget your friends! 

I have been thinking of making a few ramrods from scratch, if you have a really straight piece about 50 inches long.

[Deerhunter21]

Not sure what I’ll do with all these yet, but they’ll all find a home one way or another.

Don't forget your friends! 

I have been thinking of making a few ramrods from scratch, if you have a really straight piece about 50 inches long.

or people that could be really close friends! 

[Wally44]

TBB says that white woods do not need the back sealed

[Eric Krewson]

I seal the backs just in case, On my last batch I split off most of the heartwood and had some stave warping, After talking to a guy who only uses mostly hickory who leaves his debarked trunk in a halves for 6 months before he splits out staves and has little or no warping I think I probably should have left the heartwood on for a while before I made bow blanks. 

Here are my splits, some with the heartwood knocked off. Part of the reason I removed the heartwood was these splits were very heavy and I had to drag most of them off a high ridge, they were too heavy to carry.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I went to staved out in a day or two after I cut the tree, I should have let the wood stabilize a bit to avoid warping, this was late cut wood and the removing the bark was a very laborious job.

[ohma2]

Man i hate to say it but they are going to be twisted badly ,its already happening.Ericks friend is right.

[Tom Dulaney]

If you think about it, you got enough wood to outfit 10-15 troopers with hickory bows. From one tree in the outskirts. I'm telling you, this country is dangerous. An enterprising Amish man in the eastern half of America could easily harvest 200 bows for his family, and about 500,000 chinese privet shoots that no one would care to miss. Think about the havoc they could wreak. Probably no other country on Earth has such a dense and deep bank of excellent bow woods and arrow shoots.