four is my limit

[DVSHUNTER]

got a nice osage log over the weekend and split it up today. I ended up with about five good staves. After I split em I fired up the stove, touched up the draw knife and went to work. I carved like picasso painted. :-) the wood seemed to fly off and I was getting excited. Then it happened, I knew it would but I was still hoping... Bugs. So far I have worked four and have only lost one. The other few still look okay. It had been awhile since I worked that many down and I remember why. I still prefer green wood to work a ring down, and would say that four is my limit.

[DVSHUNTER]

I'll get the rest of em tomorrow.

[DVSHUNTER]

this is the one on the right in the above pic. It is a bit snakey and will need some heat but at 80in long I have room to work

[WINDTALKER]

I'm green with envy, I can't even get one done. I have three that came from a log gifted to me and I'm scared to death of wrecking them so I drawknife here and scrape there and then panic and run away, ohh yeah already ruined one set of billets chaseing them rings. Wish I had your bravado and stamina

[DVSHUNTER]

the first one that I worked took me something in the neighborhood of three weeks to chase. I guess practice makes better. Never perfect

[ranger 3]

Remember if you go though a ring you can always back it. I am working on a set of billets now that one end was going to fork so I'm going to back it with rawhide.

[Roy Steele]

It's harder to tell the difference between the ring and early wood in green wood.
  Seasoned wood it's harder to cut through a ring than in green wood.But if your exsperenced or you have a couple rings to go down it's alot easer to use green wood.

[DVSHUNTER]

I mostly work green wood and then after I dry it I can always take off a ring or two, but I have never had a problem chasing a ring

[George Tsoukalas]

Those bugs are a PIA. I had a stave with bugs all over the sapwood and into the heartwood. I just kept chasing. I thought I had it, made the bow and just before I finished it I saw another bug hole. LOL. It didn't bother the bow but I was po'ed. Jawge

[DVSHUNTER]

I know the feeling. I just kept telling myself  to keep going deeper, keep going deeper. I finally gave up because I was tired. I will probably give it one more go just to see what I end up with.

[Dano]

When I lived in Illinois and cut my own osage, I found that if I cut in the dead of winter I never had a problem with the borers, summer time yes. I am a cheap skate so rather than put some bug spray on the staves I would de-bark them and seal the asap, I think this is still the best method, them bugs will break your heart.

[DVSHUNTER]

dano that is what I found too. I used to cut my own but now I buy logs from a man who sells them for fence posts. He cuts and loads them for me. The only problem is that most logs have been cut for at least a year there. The wood is still pretty green but alot of it has bugs. I just have to deal with em or quit being lazy and cut my own.