Hickory harvest

[Hamish]

 Drool!
Musky, That's some seriously clean and straight looking osage. You are set to be pumping out some good bows over the next few years. Great score.

[Muskyman]

Okay my question was answered before I asked it.. thanks Pat.
I got the bark to peel off on some of them and I noticed that there was some white wood left.. I left it there and put polyurethane on it. I got around 12 pieces done today, well part way anyhow, some were splits

[Muskyman]

I’ve got several that don’t even have a single pin knot in it. It’s like most of the Osage I’ve been lucky enough to get in that it’s got some this and that stuff you don’t see till you get the bark off. Best stuff I’ve got so far. 

Thanks Hamish, I’ve drooled over some of the stashes I’ve seen on here. Osage outlaw has a really impressive stash I saw on here

[Pat B]

You better get the sapwood off too or they could check along the back. Osage is bad about that...even after being sealed.

[superdav95]

Nice hawl.  Very nice stash of Osage there mike. 

[Muskyman]

I remember reading that on here Pat. If I remember correctly the post said that the sapwood and heart wood dry at a different rate and will cause them to check. I’m going to continue to work on them till I get down to the orange wood. I just put the polyurethane on them to try to keep them from checking till I get the sapwood off. I’m going to work on them more tomorrow.

Thanks Dave. I decided to take care of the Osage first then I’m gonna get busy on the hickory. I should be set for staves for a while. Also have the Osage I harvested last year. It will be a year old end of September. I’m thinking I’ve got 6 or 8 of those. I’ll still keep an eye out for any really nice looking Osage trees. If I find the right one I’ll probably try to get it.

[Eric Krewson]

Leave the bark on any stave you can't remove the bark and sapwood at the same time.

I lost a lot of fine osage early on by removing the bark and not the sapwood. The sapwood checked the staves from the back to the belly even though I sealed the back with 4 coats of shellac.

If you store your bark pealed staves in the sun they will check very quickly.

Here is an osage split that I tried to get away with only removing the bark. This split was stored in a crawlspace under my house where it is cool and damp, it didn't matter.

[Muskyman]

Thanks Eric. I’m taking the sapwood off. I got 3 done this morning and I’ve got 3-4 more to go before I get back to the rest of it. I’ve been cheating a little bit.  Using my chipping hammer. I sharpened the bit up and it worked great. I take the sapwood off till I see it starting to change color then finish it with my draw knife 😀

[Muskyman]

Finished product

[Muskyman]

What’s with these cracks down the left side of this stave?

[Hamish]

    Musky, I love the chipping hammer. You really crack me up. Seems to do a good job. Thinking outside the box.

[Muskyman]

Yes it does Hamish. Sure beats pulling your guts out. I’m to old I guess. I’m calling what I’ve got good enough
Still like to know if anyone knows what the lines/cracks are

[Eric Krewson]

Probably not cracks but mineral stain lines, they don't hurt anything.

[Muskyman]

Just a follow up about the steaming to get the bark off the hickory.. definitely works. I did 3 of them today and got a few more Osage done..
Here’s a picture of the stave I was working on. The upper part is what I get it down to with my chipping hammer and the lower part is once I start using the draw knife.

[Muskyman]

Got a few more done today. Debarked and sealed. I was thinking today about my last Osage harvest and remembered a picture Eric Krewson posted back then about how hard it really is getting Osage out and prepped for storage. Had to find it so I could post it.
To funny Eric. And so true.