Ocean Spray question now with pics

[Ed Brooks]

I have cut a few OS staves and have a few i need to cut that i do not want to mess up. When i started cutting I just cut sealed the ends and tossed aside to dry. I have since been writing the date on them. I started a stave this weekend (without a date) and found under the bark looks like (I'm guessing here) early wood. All cracked up on the out side, this is the 2nd time i have found this. I will have to back this piece if it makes anything. My questions are,
Has anyone else found this?
Is it because I cut the wood the wrong time of year?
What is the wrong / right time of yr to cut it?
I'll try to take some pictures tonight. Thank you for looking.  Ed
The dark lines in this seems to have the cambium layer growing inside them. Ed

[DC]

I normally cut mine in the winter but only because I can see farther into the brush then . I have cut some in the summer and haven't noticed any difference. I always debark shortly after cutting and put a couple of coats of shellac on the back and end grain. I usually rough cut the staves to expose to pith. I don't think the pith is anything special except if the stave is left whole it's probably going to split to the pith anyway. Lately I've been putting them in a plastic tube(open at the ends) to slow the drying. It seems to be working but the jury is still out. Treated like this I don't get any checking on the limbs but the handle usually checks some. On some the handle will open up like a clam.

[Ed Brooks]

Thank you for the reply DC. I cut the ends glue them and don't have much trouble with them splitting. I have had OS split up pretty bad, so I am familiar with the normal splitting that it is pron to doing. this however is something different tho. it's crazy I'll snap a picture of it tonight. Ed

[Bryce]

I normally cut mine in the winter but only because I can see farther into the brush then . I have cut some in the summer and haven't noticed any difference. I always debark shortly after cutting and put a couple of coats of shellac on the back and end grain. I usually rough cut the staves to expose to pith. I don't think the pith is anything special except if the stave is left whole it's probably going to split to the pith anyway. Lately I've been putting them in a plastic tube(open at the ends) to slow the drying. It seems to be working but the jury is still out. Treated like this I don't get any checking on the limbs but the handle usually checks some. On some the handle will open up like a clam.

That's how I do it:)

[DC]

I didn't come up with this method. I got it on here from SteveB. Credit where credit is due.

[wizardgoat]

I do the same with as Don and Bryce (and Steve B).
I also seal any little pin knots or anywhere it's not solid bark.
It WILL check there.
I have never seen OS bark come off easily

[DC]

I've probably cut 50 staves and I had one that the bark peeled of by hand. I was so surprized I posted it. I use a dullish draw knife on all but that one. I have a piece of coarse SS wool from Amway that I scrub the back with. This removes all the inner bark and with the shellac gives a nice clean back. The bark seems to come off the same no matter what season you do it. I only remove the bark from the part of the back that will still be there when the bow is done.

[steve b.]

I have never seen that.  Looks like degeneration to me.  I would scrape down to something harder and make a bow.
FWIW, I debark and rough out within a week of cutting.  Bark peels like celery, coming off easily.  I slowly introduce the roughed out stave to less humidity.  No sealing.  No checking.

[DC]

I've never seen anything like that either. Especially the 3rd picture. The first two look to me like they've been scraped too hard. When did you cut it? My first guess was that it's dead standing but I'm just not sure. I think I would toss it but I have lots of OS staves.

Steve do you use a drawknife to de-bark?  How do you slowly introduce to less humidity?

[steve b.]

DC, Yea I use a drawknife to get the outer bark off and scrape the inner bark off, especially the back side--the scraper.  If it is summer--hot and dry, I'm concerned about the roughed stave drying too fast so I'll put in a loose fitting bag and check on it every day or so.  If its other than summer I'll keep it in a shady unheated place.  At some point, depending on conditions, i'll move the stave to the garage, maybe inside the house, but eventually to the hot box, usually within a month or so of cutting.  It depends on how fast I want to make a bow of it and/or how much I can babysit it over the weeks. 

[Ed Brooks]

I have never seen that.  Looks like degeneration to me.  I would scrape down to something harder and make a bow.
FWIW, I debark and rough out within a week of cutting.  Bark peels like celery, coming off easily.  I slowly introduce the roughed out stave to less humidity.  No sealing.  No checking.

Steve that is the first layer of wood, those dark lines have the cambium layer down in them growing there.  I do not know when i cut this one as far as time of yr. and yes it was a living tree/bush. i will scrap it off to try for harder wood and then back it. Thank you. Ed

[Ed Brooks]

I've never seen anything like that either. Especially the 3rd picture. The first two look to me like they've been scraped too hard. When did you cut it? My first guess was that it's dead standing but I'm just not sure. I think I would toss it but I have lots of OS staves.

Steve do you use a drawknife to de-bark?  How do you slowly introduce to less humidity?

DC, the 3rd pic is not a very good pic but it is there trying to show bark and cambium layer. not sure about the white scrap in the pic my be too deep I will look again. I will be taking this nasty stuff off. Thanks for your input. Ed

[Springbuck]

 I know nothing about OS, but I have had something similar happen with other small hard species like lilac and some little lumpy bush with lots of knots I can't ID, and once with a white-wood elm that had TINY growth rings.

In each of those cases, I figured out that I had harvested the wood in the early spring, when the tree had JUST started laying down summer growth over a new winter ring.  The summer top ring was almost paper thin, and checked like that all over the stave, but mostly the checks only ran into that winter ring.  Lot's of them, but not deep.  I scraped it off, and it seemed good, but they had thin rings anyway and one had knots all over, so I don't remember getting a bow out of those.

  The elm only checked here and there, so I worked around it, and when I started flexing the bow during tillering, the thin summer ring cracked everywhere and  the back of the bow started flaking off, like an eggshell, so I had to chase the next ring down and shorten the bow.