Author Topic: Splitting hickory staves  (Read 1799 times)

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Offline woodswalker

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Splitting hickory staves
« on: July 16, 2013, 06:43:16 am »
Ok here is my problem. About a month to month and a half ago I fell a nice hickory, cut a long enough section to make 2 sets of staves peeled them out, glueing the ends and all. Problem is each section I only split in half ( i.e. getting 4 BIG WIDE staves ) This being my first time didnt think a whole lot about it at the moment. But as time passed started thinking I should have split each again to give myself more workable staves. Now for the question. Is it too late to split the wide staves again or will it be fine? And will it be harder to split now than at first felling? Don't want to mess up the wood because they all look great ( too my untrained eye at least  :o . Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Offline Dean Marlow

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Re: Splitting hickory staves
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2013, 07:12:26 am »
No problem on splitting them again. I split my logs in half and put them up for 6 months then split them out the rest of the way. I think it helps leaving them In halves to reduce twisting and bending while drying. Dean

Offline Hrothgar

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Re: Splitting hickory staves
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2013, 07:54:57 am »
Like Dean said, its not too late to split them again; having kept them wide should help reduce the warp. However, a person never knows what's going to happen if they are split again--i.e. waves in the grain, or maybe ruining a stave. I've done the same thing as you before, and now I play it safe ( and wasteful) and usually try to get just one good stave instead of two from the second split--I know most of the other guys won't agree with me  :o
" To be, or not to be"...decisions, decisions, decisions.

Offline Pappy

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Re: Splitting hickory staves
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2013, 08:02:21 am »
I do like Dean,depending on the size,I usually only cut really big Hickory 30inches + across the stump,so I usually split in 1/4s so I can handle the staves,still very wide even in 1/4s.
   Pappy
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