Question for Osage stave bow builders

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I'm not sure if it makes much difference or not cause even though I sell Osage staves, I'm still rather new at bow building. I'm on my 4th right now building my nephews longbows for Christmas.

Anyway......Do you like to remove the bark and sapwood immediately from the staves?
OR......Do you just remove the bark and leave the sapwood on until it's time to start the building?
OR.....Do you remove neither one until the bow building begins?

The reason why I ask is because I have done it all 3 ways and I have a stave that's been drying since August that I removed both bark and sapwood and it's aging gracefully and looks perfect.

Then the bows I'm working on now....I only removed the bark and not the sapwood and the sapwood is one serious pain in the a$$ to get off.
So I'm wondering if I should have removed both of them immediately?

Opinions, Advice, or Personal experiences Please.

SEMO

[2treks]

You can do it any of the ways you mention.
Bark on: Be careful of bugs.
Bark off,down to sapwood: Be careful of checking.
   Seal the sapwood with sealer.
Bark and sapwood off: seal the outer ring with sealer.
A good sharp draw knife will make short work of ANY wood removal when the bow building starts. Good luck and have fun.
Chuck

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Thanks Chuck, I've experienced all those you mentioned. My perfect personal stave that I've been saving was taken down to the first ring and sealed on the back, belly not sealed and I just checked it a few minutes ago and it's still perfect.

I have had carpenter ants get under the bark before, and I have also seen the sapwood split even though it was sealed.......hmmmm
Still not sure which would be best?

As far as what the customer is getting, how far would you take them down and call it good to ship to the builder?
I always seal the ends good and sometimes remove the bark, but I have sent them out with the bark on and just cleaned off the outside of the stave to remove stringies and splinters. Then let the bow builder take it from there.

[H8nonCubs]

I would say in my experiences that the sapwood definitely comes off much easier on a greener piece of wood. It seems to harden quite a bit the longer it sits. On the other hand I've been told you get a more gradual drying with the bark on since moisture can escape from the back and belly. But if your wanting a quicker dry time I would work it down to a single ring and seal it up!

[SourOwl]

CHRIS - YUP, WHAT H8nonCubs SAID;  IT'S A LITTLE CHEAPER SHIPPING IF THE STAVE'S TAKEN DOWN TO A GROWTH RING, THEN BACK AND ENDS SEALED (WILL BE SLIGHTLY LIGHTER WEIGHT W/O BARK).

'COURSE, THE DOWN SIDE OF THAT IS COST OF SEALER AND DRYING TIME FOR THE SEALER.......SOUROWL

[kerryb]

It is much easer to remove the bark and sap wood while it is green, we do over 300 Osage staves per year. If you choose to leave on the bark while curing spray them with a good insect killer and seal the end or the bugs will ruin alot of good wood. Be careful about removeing the bark and leaving just the sap wood, even being sealed it sometimes will check and carry on throughout the stave. You dont know what you have until the bark and sap wood is removed, there can be a lot of suprises under the sap wood.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Very good info all of you and you mainly confirmed my own experiences that I have had so far. I guess I just need some feed back from the guys who know.

The sap wood does come off much easier when it's green, I'm finding that out the hard way right now while working on these 2 longbows for my nephews Christmas presents.

Thanks to all for your input.

[Diamondback59]

hey chris do as kerry says i personally remove the bark and sap when i split em  and seal the end and back with poly let er dry  brock

[Eric Krewson]

I tried leaving the sapwood on with 3 or 4 coats of shellac a few years ago. Even well sealed, some of the staves got drying checks in the sapwood that went deeply into the heartwood.

Leave the bark and sapwood on or take both off at the same time.

[DVSHUNTER]

I'm not disagring with eric, but I commonly leave sapwood on bows and seal them with shellac and have never had any check on me. Eric has built more than me so I guess I'm just lucky. I usually take all my staves down to a heartwood ring before storing to dry.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I have noticed that sometimes when I just leave the sapwood on, but remove the bark that they will split the sapwood. Luckily I caught it before it got into the heartwood.
Problem is that it's more of a pain to clean a whole bunch of staves down to the first ring if your selling them. They age nicely with the ends sealed and bark on, but the draw back is that when the sapwood dries it's a bugger to get off.

Then there's the huge amount of polyurethane or laquer that it takes to coat an entire stave on the ends and the back if your doing about 20-30 of them. It adds up, but I'm seriously thinking about doing just that.
Even though it's more work and the cost will go up, the do look a whole lot nicer to the customer and would probably sell better.

[Diamondback59]

chris is  use cheap poly get it at wally world for 8 bucks a gallon  goes a long way brock

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Wow....that's a whole lot cheaper than Lowes.
Thanks for the tip!

[DVSHUNTER]

I sell staves too. I work them down to a heartwood ring and seal them with shellac on the ends and back. It makes for a better product and the cost isn't enough to worry about. If you want to sell em here though you should probably look into becoming a sponsor. Commercial sales are prohibited unless you are a sponsor.  

 once you get the hang of chasing a ring you can whip them up pretty fast. I try to make a challenge out of it and see how many I can do. I have done six in a day now and then I gwt tired. Keep them long and label them with dates and lengths to help keep track of em.