Tips for drying oceanspray and a question about hazelnut for NW bowyers

[tumalt]

I cut a beautiful piece of oceanspray over the weekend and made the mistake of peeling off all the bark.  I woke up the next morning absolutely horrified at how badly it had checked. Large cracks up and down its length completely ruined a premium piece of wood -- which anyone who has hunted for ocean spray knows can be hard to come by.

Anyone have any recommendations?  I'm off to look for some more this weekend and don't want a repeat performance.

Will just leaving the bark on and sealing the ends do the job?  Its hot and dry right now--has anyone tried  leaving the stave in the bathroom to benefit from the higher humidity so the stave can dry more slowly? 

Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Here's my question about hazelnut:   I have been wondering whether the hazelnut that people use for bow building (like Gordon's amazing bow) is the shrubby northwest native hazelnut (beaked hazelnut I believe) that grows along roadsides, or whether it is the larger hazelnut that is grown commercially for its nuts.

The good news, I did get a nice stave of rocky mountain maple, which was a bit short, but is turning out to be fun wood to work with.

Thanks in advance.
 

[Gordon]

Tumalt,

Most of the hazelnut that I have harvested has come from roadside groves. Look for suckers that are between 1.5 and 3 inches in diameter.

I'm sorry to hear about the oceanspray. I've never worked with oceanspray and would have likely made the same mistake. I guess you need to leave the bark on this species of wood.

[tumalt]

Gordon-- that is good news about the hazelnut!  I see it all around here.  Do you have any tips for drying hazelnut?  Can I get it to the floor tillering stage while its still green without it checking like ocean spray? 

I have been really impressed with the rocky mountain maple. It didn't check at all. Without a moisture meter its hard to tell, but with warm weather it seems like its lost all its moisture and is ready to be turned into a bow.

[Pat B]

tumalt, generally speaking you can floor tiller any green wood without effecting it adversly. Don't go beyond that though until the wood is dry.

[Gordon]

Tumalt,

I've never had any checking problems with hazelnut. You should be able to debark and rough out a bow from green wood with no problem.