A little haul

[IdahoMatt]

Got some Mountain maple and a choke cherry.  A couple of marginal one and a couple of real nice ones. I have a spot that is mixed with both.  I pushed farther up the draw than I have before.  It got really thick.  I'll have to take some pics up the the next time I go.  It is a really neat little oasis in the high desert. Lots of juniper too.  But I had my mind set on maple.  The one on the far left is the choke cherry.

Matt

[soy]

Pics man pics 

[IdahoMatt]

You were quick on the daw soy.  Sometimes I just hit post.  Sorry man

[bubby]

Nice haul matt

[Pappy]

Looks like several bows in all of that. Nice haul.
 Pappy

[TRACY]

Where's the pic of the mule? looks like a good supply of bow wood

Tracy

[Parnell]

Some fine looking bow wood in there Matt!  Look forward to seeing what you come up with.
I have one piece of funky mountain maple.  Not the greatest stave but it seems like great wood.

[IdahoMatt]

Thanks guys.  I can't wait to dive into this stash.  There is even a piece for my little man, Henry. 

Parnell you should turn that funky on into a funky bow.  This maple is pretty good wood.  I think I am going to try heat treating on some of these.  I have only made one bow out of this wood but it is one of my faves.

[soy]

Nice!    Looking like a great start to a few bows

[Swatch]

Matt, looks like a great haul! I loved one of my choke cherry bows that I made years ago. You cut them and then debark them. Do you coat them with shellac or something?  After debarking, how long do you wait for them to dry?

Steve

[IdahoMatt]

This is my first.   I coated it in shalac.  I will reduce it in a bit and then wait till fall, and see if it's ready.  I'm kinda flying by the seam  of my pants on this one.

[DarkSoul]

NEVER debark log when you intend to dry them in the round! These round logs can start to check literally within hours. You really need to seal the entire surface with multiple coats of shelac, varnish, paint, poly etc. as soon as possible and dry them VERY carefully and very slowly. It's best to reduce them ASAP at least by splitting/cutting them in half, up to the heart of the tree. Better yet to rough them out.
If you want to dry round logs, you must not remove the bark (this accounts for any wood species).

[IdahoMatt]

I have found with the mountain maple, it dries very quickly with no check and no sealer at all.  The choke cherry I coated in shellac.  I don't even seal the ends of my maple staves.  It gets very dry here RH wise and I have never had an issue. 

[okie64]

Nice little haul Matt! I am interested in your mountain maple, is it a soft or hard maple?

NEVER debark log when you intend to dry them in the round! These round logs can start to check literally within hours. You really need to seal the entire surface with multiple coats of shelac, varnish, paint, poly etc. as soon as possible and dry them VERY carefully and very slowly. It's best to reduce them ASAP at least by splitting/cutting them in half, up to the heart of the tree. Better yet to rough them out.
If you want to dry round logs, you must not remove the bark (this accounts for any wood species).

I'll have to disagree with ya on this one. On saplings this size it is much better to peel and seal and leave them in the round for a couple of months. Otherwise they will warp and twist all over the place. I probably have 30 saplings(up to 5" diameter) in my shop thar have been drying in the round for years and they have zero cracks, species include hickory, hackberry, erc and probably some other ones that i cant think of right offhand. Im curious where your information is coming from as this has not been my experience at all.

[IdahoMatt]

I agree that the species you described above should be sealed and peaked.  With this maple in my experience, you can just peal the bark and let it set.  It is the only wood that I have found that you can do this with.  My shop has cement floors that remain very cool for the whole year.  The shop stays very cool this time of year because it drops down to near freezing every night. I have heard of other similar results with this same wood.  The last time I cut some I tried it out, and it worked.  I sealed the back and ends on one of my staves, just the ends on one, and nothing on the other.  They all had no checks at all.  The only one that did get check is one that I put TBII on and wiped it in with a wet rag to get a thinner glue mixture.  So on this batch I thought I would just try not sealing to see if my experiment will repeat itself.  I cut a similar sapling a couple of weeks ago, and it still is not warping or checking.  This wood also dries remarkably fast in my experience. 

Matt