Bark Dosen't Always Protect

[ChristopherO]

I don't know how many of you have had this problem but what we've been told about leaving the bark on will protect from checking isn't a given, at least for me.  
This isn't the first time this has happened but today I took an excellent piece of osage that was cut and split over 2 years ago.  Wanting to create a riser block out of it I first used the draw knife to clean the bark so any dirt wouldn't dull the saw blade.  To my frustration a rather large check was running lengthwise down the 1/2 log.  No large check is seen on the sealed ends and the bark was in pristine condition, too.
I think I have cut most of the nastiness out of this piece and can use the block for a riser.  Will know for sure when I make the accent cut in it.  
As I said this was not the first time.  This wood was dryed in a barn on sawhorses with no direct sunlight on it.

[Pat B]

If it was summer cut and the bark loosened as the wood dried it would leave air space under the bark and that allowed moisture to escape from there causing the checks. How big was the 1/2 log?  I like to get bow wood to stave form before drying. That gives you more of the split sides for moisture to escape from so it doesn't have to try to go out the back.

[ChristopherO]

Pat,
It was cut the day after Thanksgiving and the weather was charactoristically cold.  The 1/2 split was at least 8" across.  It would have been a great billet stave, 4' long, but I really want a handle for my next FG recurve out of it so it got lopped off at 2'.  I know, sacrilege, but I have more osage for later self bows.  Hopefully I can get another riser bloc out of what is left over, too.
We cut about 3 trees that day and this was not the first log to expose a drying check when debarked.

[Art B]

Summer cut was my first thought also Pat. Perhaps some tension/compression issues? Was the log's heart off center? If yes, did you half your log correctly to accommodate the two different forces? Art

[ChristopherO]

Nope, premo log.  This has happened on 1/4 splits, too.  Excellent osage, though.

[Art B]

Strange Christopher! Never seen that before.

Large growth rings? Cut on agricuture land that promotes fast growth? Cut near water source? Art

[John Scifres]

Weird.  I have pretty much gone to getting all my osage split, ring chased and thinned to less than an inch right as soon as I can after cutting.  It makes for some long days in the shop but I don't lose any wood that way.  I have been known to get a little lazy and let bugs eat my osage in the past.  This way, I get it all done at once.  Plus it dries faster and I know what I have right away.  I know hardwood places spray water on their logs while it is drying.  That must be why, huh?

[ChristopherO]

Big rings cut on the edge of the field in the bottoms.  I suspect it was pretty wet when cut which caused the drying checks.  
I cut the other 2' piece in to a block today and it, too, has some drying checks under the bark.  I believe I can use it, though, if I can get the riser shaped well enough.

[hova]

oh well , maybe in ohio you should cut in the heat of summer...lol...its more humid then too , so i would imagine the bow wouldnt lose as much as fast...


-hov