Racking

[stuckinthemud]

Thought I'd rotate my staves, not done it for a few years. I have 4  three feet deep racks and as I collect staves tend to toss them on the racks.  Thing is when I pulled down the staves I found a few really nice ones I totally forgot I had, including a pair of holly a couple of apple and a yew stick  They were just out of reach and buried under newer staves.  My single garage workshop/store room is very short on space, and head room (5'11"), hence the racks. Any advice on managing a stave collection?

[Pat B]

Build more bows, collect fewer staves.   

[stuckinthemud]

Sounds like good advice, I counted 25 staves that are straight and fairly low in knots, at least as many that range from interesting to challenging and a good amount of stuff best used in other ways

[Gimlis Ghost]

Sort them carefully. Keep the best for your own use and either sell or gift the rest to friends who can put them to good use.

[Eric Krewson]

Stave hording is a very real mental disorder but a good one to have, I got hit with it 26 years ago. I continually found osage trees in and around town and got permission to cut them. If I knew of an osage tree that in the path of development I was like a dope sick junkie until I got permission to cut it and get my fix.

I am past my osage cutting days because of physical limitations but still see good osage trees that have been pushed up with a dozer and instantly flash back into "gotta' get that tree mode".

Just a short time ago I was on my way to the gym, I had been looking at 5 or 6 osage trees that lined the roadway on my route for the last 35 years. That day a road clearing crew had cut them all and had the trunks, some were very  straight, line up in a pile top haul off. My old self would have instantly stopped and asked if I could have the logs, I am 100% certain that they would have given them to me, even load them on my truck with their skid steer and be glad to have me haul them off so they wouldn't have to fool with them.

I made myself drive on by without stopping, the next day the logs were gone. Six months later I still have a tinge of regret, the fact that I can no longer swing a splitting maul or that I have at least a lifetimes supply of horded osage stored under my house that I will never get to didn't blunt my osage addiction withdrawal symptoms one bit.   

[Del the cat]

I have a periodic sort out about twice a year. The critcal thing is to write a date and location/provenance on each stave.
Del

[Nasr]

And here I am never having touch Osage before. I need to be start collecting more staves all I work with is board bows. Just don’t have time to get staves. I would give you advice but tbh if I were in your situation I would have done the same.