Will it crack if I rough out wet staves?

[Pete W]

I am getting to be impatient, and want to have some HHB ready for working this winter. My bigest fear is having the staves crack and become firewood by not drying them properly. Bow wood is very hard to obtain in Alberta, and I hate the thought of ruining good staves , but I also want to be crafting bows when hunting season is over in December..
 If I rough out the shapes on the band saw and make sure the ends and back are very well sealed will I be asking for the belly side to open up some ugly cracks?  How about just reducing the thickness of the limbs to 3/4" and the handle to about 2", leaving the sides alone? This would leave more options for the type of bow I can make later on.  If I do rough out the staves should I seal the roughed out blanks completely or just the ends and back?
 I will be dryinng them in the garage, it gets hot by day and cool by night there, or should I dry them in the basement where it is always cool and dry ?
 The staves were just cut in May and are very wet still.
 I am verturing into new waters for me and don't want to have my impatience ruin things.

 Pete

[walkabout]

theres a section in TBB vol4 i believe on drying staves quickly. it says to rough to full width and about 3/4 inches thick then set in the dryest place in your house(shop etc.)TBB vol4 page23. i recently used this method on hickory staves and theyre coming along nicely, almost ready to work in a little less than a month.

[walkabout]

id seal the backs and ends with shellac or something similar also. you may experience some checks but my hickory staves didnt check at all, although i hear whitewoods dont really as easily as other woods.

[Dublin Joe]

I've been advised to remove the bark and the sub-bark layer, and to avoid sealing the entire stave.

I've read that many people are roughing out most of the bow before they put it up to dry.

Good luck.

Joel

[Rainshooter]

Also advise to clamp it down to avoid twisting.  The concept behind roughing out a stave when wet is to  avoid checking and to get a workable piece of word in considerably shorter time(as little as a week or two). Wood checks because the outer layer of wood is shrinking as it dries around the inner wood which has yet to shrink since it is still wet. When you get the stave to uniform width and thickness is dries uniformly. Like walkabout I got my info from tbb4.

[John Scifres]

I do it with almost all my wood.  Cut them to length, get the staves' backs in order, cut them width but leave full width for the whole length.  Thin them to less than 3/4" thick for the full width of the working section of the limb.  It doesn't hurt to shellac the back and ends.  Dry for 1 month in cool place.  Then put them in a warmer place until you are ready to work them.  

I usually cut in the winter so I leave them in my garage for one month after roughing out.  In the summer, a basement is a good choice.  I then put them in the attic until I'm ready for them.

[John Scifres]

Here's about half of the 23 staves I put up in the attic this winter after cutting in March:    

[walkabout]

thats an amazing stash of staves. wish i was lucky enough to have some osage close.

[Osagetree]

Believe it or not, I new one guy who worked all his bows green or at least only after a couple months of cutting. He kept boiled linseed oil on them at any time he worked them and then even after finishing them. I would have never known the difference in his bows so I tried it a couple times myself and it worked for me too.

[Pete W]

Thanks for all the good advice. I have reduced them to about an inch thick, and the backs and ends are well sealed . Lets hope they make a bow or 2 when the hunting season is finished.
 John, That is an absolute dream to have Osage like that.You are so lucky to live where you can access Osage.

 Thanks all
 Pete