Storing Osage staves

[Muskyman]

I have my Osage staves I cut stored in my shed up on the rafters. I have a propane heater I’m going to set up in the shed to work on stuff to warm it up in there while out there working. Would the change in temperature be bad for them and also is the cold hard on them if I stored them outside in the winter in a different shed?
I wouldn’t think it would hurt them but thought I’d ask.

[Pat B]

They should be fine. It's probably better to have constant temps or at least not much temp swing but what you have should be ok as long as they are sealed well. Check them on a regular basis and if you see checks or other adverse changes you might want to rethink it.

[Eric Krewson]

It won't hurt your staves if you warm up the shed while you are working, if you were to warm your shed to 90 degrees or more it would but 70 degrees or so is OK unless it will get really hot at rafter level.


If you have very dry winters with very low humidity, it could cause your staves to check. Where I live the average ambient MC is 12%, If yours is less than 8% this could be a problem.

[Muskyman]

Eric, if this is what you’re talking about, and I assume it is, here is what I found online. I live near Cincinnati, Ohio so it’s between 14.5 and 12.2  I might move them anyway. At the very least put a thermometer close to them and keep a check on the temperature when I have the heater running. I wouldn’t think it would warm it up to much because of the sheds size. After all the work that went into getting them I’d hate to ruin them before I had the chance to do it with with a draw knife and a rasp.

[Eric Krewson]

With that average MC you are good to go.