Picking some vine maple staves

[Billinthedesert]

Was up grouse hunting in the Oregon Cascades a couple of days ago and, with vine maple abundant, kept seeing staves everywhere.
Do those who often use vine maple have a strong preference regarding tension/compression orientation of the potential stave, or are you more focused on simply harvesting a stave that will give you useful and reasonable reflex?  I understand the bark is more easily peeled in spring.
I was re-reading Gordon's incredibly informative vine maple build-along and have a terrible jones ...

 

[wizardgoat]

The skyward facing tension side is what you want for bows.  Cut it anytime, the bark comes off easy in spring but VM bark is very thin, and peels like a potato when dry

[Billinthedesert]

Thanks Wizardgoat!

[aaron]

I try to pick vertically growing VM... The tension side works as wizardgoat said, but you have to mark the stave so youremember. The tension side on a more horizontally growing stave is more prone to having branches and tension wood is more prone to bending as it dries. So, for a beginner, vertically growing staves may be a safer bet.

[vinemaplebows]

I try to pick vertically growing VM... The tension side works as wizardgoat said, but you have to mark the stave so youremember. The tension side on a more horizontally growing stave is more prone to having branches and tension wood is more prone to bending as it dries. So, for a beginner, vertically growing staves may be a safer bet.

I could not agree more, tension staves are superior in many ways, but that's only if you are looking for high octane staves.