Splitting Hickory into Staves

[SamIAm]

I'm new to this forum and to making traditional bows and have a question about splitting logs into staves.  A friend was clearing some land and knew I was interested in making traditional bows so he offered some hickory logs to me.  I went out and found 2 or 3 that seemed decent, fairly straight, and were about 10-12 in. in diameter.  With help I took them home and another friend (also interested in the bow making) assisted me in splitting the logs using splitting mauls, wedges and sledges.  The first split to "half" a log was good, no problem.  Then we decided to try to get more than just 2 staves out of a half so we began the split in a place that would give us 3 equally sized staves.  (Hope your following me here.)  The problem was that in splitting the logs the traditional way, by the time we got to the other end of the log the stave was very "skinny" much smaller than the end we started.  This happened several times and we can only assume it was because of the twist in the grain of the log.  Is this a normal problem?  Is there anything that we could have done differently other than selecting a straighter log?  We cut some off of the "skinny" ends to salvage what we could, some were ok but made rather large staves and will require a lot of work and we turned some into firewood.  They were free and we learned some stuff but any input would be appreciated.  Really enjoy this forum. 

[horatio1226]

Gotta find a really straight tree or log...

[NeolithicMan]

Had the same problem with hickory myself. try ripping up the log with a circular saw to at least start the split. you can do it slowly with a hatchet, tapping it down the log with the grain but a good cut down the log makes a world of difference.

[Eric Krewson]

It is perfectly acceptable to pop a chalk line on a hickory log, kirf the log on the line with a skill saw and split on your kerf. You get some really even staves that way.

This was two logs with no large knots kirfed, split and looking good. Cut these late in the year so removing the bark was a pain.



One other thing to think about; how long were your logs on the ground before you got them? any more than a month and they are probably not good for bows. Hickory degrades really fast on the ground.

[BowEd]

Sometimes when splitting logs you can get greedy.It's happened to a lot of us.

[SamIAm]

Good points from everyone and very nice "stacks" of staves.  We had one log left that we hadn't split and after work today we split it.  We managed to get 6 staves from one approx. 10 inch log and the difference had to be that it had straighter grain.  (I'll post a picture of our stack later.)  I really like the idea of kerfing the bark side of the log.  Does that "violate" the rule of following the grain?  I also like the way that Eric has removed the pointed edge of the staves.  How did you do that, draw knife, froe or what?

[horatio1226]

If you make the staves wide enough you should have no problem following the grain when you lay out your bow.

[TimPotter]

If it is a small log, say as big around as a small coffee can, I've learned to content myself with 2 matching halves. I do it with slow splitting using a sharp axe-head driven in with a maul, and use a sharp hatchet to separate any stubborn places as I go down.

[Buckeye Guy]

Slow down no race to be won here!
Yes it is easy to get greedy ,Yes hickory can take a lot of ring violation, but the main ? was splitting so lets get to it !
Did you split from the top of the tree end or the bottom?
How wide are your wedges ?
How many points along the tree did you drive wedges into ?
It all makes a big difference !
Slow down and watch what is happening ,think it thru why did it do that !
It is about the learning more than the bows !!!
Have fun !
Guy

[Eric Krewson]

I should clarify a few things. My logs were abut 16"X7', up on a high ridge with no way to get them to a road in one piece. I split the logs with wedges into quarters first, split off the heart wood off the larger pieces with wedges to reduce the weight and split the quarters into eighths. Each eighth weighed at least 50lbs but I could drag them down the mountain to my truck. I kerfed what I had in my truck to make the nice looking staves in the previous picture.

I am pretty sure I made an initial straight cut in each log with my chainsaw before I started splitting.  I always use this shortcut on every log I harvest, osage included.

[SamIAm]

Guy....no hurry here.  It was my first effort at splitting a log for a bow stave.  We used a couple of mauls and 1 wedge, moving our wedge down the log as the crack progressed.  Is it better to use multiple wedges?  We didn't know the correct method, if there is one.  We started at the butt end on one log, other end on another, again not knowing for sure what was best.  Didn't notice difference.  I'm not sure of the width of the wedge, maybe 1.75".  The mauls are large of course and we drove them as deep as we could to release the wedge and move it along.  Maybe the mauls are a "no-no" and we were in too big of a hurry to get the logs split.  We did (and still are) learning from the process.  As you said, it's half the fun.  Eric..as to the concern about them being on the ground too long, we got them within 12 hours of them being put on the ground and we glued the end after we split them.  Thanks to all for adding to my knowledge on this subject.  Love it.  Attached is a picture of the pile we ended up with.  All are usable, not perfect, some better than others....that's probably the way it always is.

[Eric Krewson]

Looks good to me, should make some fine bows. I would split the heart wood off your staves, pretty easy to do.

[Joec123able]

Well I usually start splitting on the smaller end of the log to try avoid the problem you had

[NeolithicMan]

Two wedges playin leap fog down a log is my style. drive one in about half way, find the end of the split, place the second wedge an drive it half way in. this relieves the pressure off the first an can be removed and used as the second one, repeat until the log falls apart. I then take a sharp harchet and clean up the edges and the still connected grain on the inner part of the staves.

Hope that made some sense and I didnt come off as a blabbering idiot in another language!

Get them trees SAM!

[DarkSoul]

If you have only one wedge, make some wooden wedges on site. Use an axe to cut a few 8" sticks of wood and sharpen them to a pointed wedge. If you use only one wedge, it can and will become stuck at some point, with no way to retrieve it...

Looks like a nice pile of staves! Perhaps it would have been better to ask questions first, and then start splitting later, but this amount of staves should be fine for now. The only thing that has not yet been addressed, is "so we began the split in a place that would give us 3 equally sized staves". I think this is where you went wrong. That will mean the smaller piece will be more flexible and will be 'peeled off' the bigger piece. The small piece will have grain tear out on the far end and might become too narrow.
Instead, try this:
- Split the half log into two pieces, one measuring 2/5 and the other 3/5. The difference between these two pieces is so small, that will split without grain tear out. Then split the 3/5 piece in two equal parts, so you end up with one 2/5 and two 1½/5 pieces. Splitting in equal parts is always easier, so halves, quarters or eigths, but some logs are not big enough to split them into eigths.
- For three equal parts, you can also split the half log in the middle of the length. Don't start at the end, but drive a sharp axe into the middle, from the bark side towards the heart of the tree. Gradually progress the splits towards both ends. Don't drive one axe all the way down, but rather more carefully. Keep the split with a small opening and go towards the ends as quickly as possible. I hope that makes sense