Bois d'ark stave harvesting.

[crossstickspro]

Found a few nice horse apple trees the other day hog hunting. Have a question. Souls I cut them and let em dry before cutting into staves? I can prolly get a dozen or more.
If they turn out alright I'd like to trade em so I want to do it right.
Thank you,

[red hill]

Cut'em, seal the ends, and split'em. They dry more quickly when reduced.
I leave the bark on until I'm ready to work them to rough deminsions or into a bow.
Forgot to add. If you take the bark off make sure to seal the backs!!!

[SLIMBOB]

Take the glue, paint, or whatever sealer with you and seal the ends as you cut them.  Here is Texas this time of year with the heat, you can get some really bad end checks before you get them home.  The wind from the truck ride home dries the exposed ends rapidly.  You can leave 'em hole, halve them, quarter 'em, or bow stave.  The smaller the stave the faster they will dry.

[crossstickspro]

So once I cut them seal them.... Could I take them to a saw mill and have them cut into 3x4 or a 4x4s ? Seal those and let them dry or just leave them

[Bjorn]

Take them to the sawmill if you want fenceposts; not if you are interested in bow staves.

[crossstickspro]

So just split them the old fashion way. Hammer and wedge or a hand splitting moll. I plan on cutting them at about 8-10 ft. And I guess they are anywhere from 6-14 inches around. I was looking forward to building my first self Bow from one of these.

[scrub-buster]

Hand split them with wedges.  They will follow the grain that way.  If you saw them, you could cut through the grain.  I usually cut my osage logs to 80".  I split them, remove the bark and sapwood, and seal the backs.  I seal the ends as soon as the tree hits the ground.  If you leave the bark on, spray them with insecticide regularly.  Post some pics of your harvest please.  I love to see a truck load of yellow wood.

[Roy Steele]

If your not in a hurry OSAGE splits a LOT better after seasoning.
 But it you split into staves while green the time to add reflex to them.

[Black Mockingbird]

Cut by proper directional felling,then wait a couple minutes for that first check to appear,then insert a hatchet or thin wedge into that check to start your split to halve it. Its the woods sign and a way of telling you that thats the easiest way,and where it wants to split. If you dont,it will fight you much harder. Then either further split into quarters or not,but then seal the ends.

[Eric Krewson]

My advice; Don't put more than one tree on the ground at a time. You can overload yourself and have more than you can handle, wood will split, check and be ruined by bugs if you don't get to it in a reasonable length of time.

With a huge pile of osage, you split until you pass out and resume splitting when you come to. In this gag picture I definitely overloaded myself, some of this wood ruined because I couldn't get it processed in time.

 

 Cut the tree, cut a 6' section out of the trunk, save any pieces of the trunk that are 36" and longer for billet wood to splice into staves.

Split your trunk into staves between 3" and 4" wide across the back

Don't take the bark off unless you have a draw knife and can remove the sapwood as well.
Shellac is the best sealer for the back and ends.

Buy the Dean Torges book "Hunting the Osage Bow" and follow his procedure on cutting osage to the letter. His is the best method.

[va]

Eric - I can relate to the pic.  Loved it.

I agree with one tree at a time (unless you will never get back on the property). That way you don't waste staves by letting them sit around for checks and bugs.

[scrub-buster]

Some times one tree is a lot to handle if its a big one         Try to keep them out of the sun.  That makes them check faster.

[crossstickspro]

Thanks for the advice and the book suggestion. You guys have made me realize the importance of proper research and procedure even when it's just as simple as felling a tree.
Are there any other books out there I should be aware of on this topic.?

[scrub-buster]

If you will be building selfbows, you should check out the Traditional Bowyers Bibles.  There's lots of good info in them.

When you pick out your trees, study the bark for any signs of twist.  Twist is bad news.

[crossstickspro]

Have two of the bibles... That's kinda what got this self bow idea in my head.... I've made some lam bows but every attempt at a self bow ends up with a lam backing and te tiller is rough at best, and they don't shoot great. I just figure that if I harvest a stave and treat it like my baby from living in the woods to hunting in the woods it might force me to slow down take my time and do the job right.
Another question about the shape of the tree. If the bark is straight but there is a slight bend in the trunk is that still ok....?I know I want as straight as possible without knots or twist I would like to know what's acceptable though.

[scrub-buster]

Osage bends nicely with dry heat.  You can straighten out some bends and kinks, but like you said, try to get the straightest pieces you can.

[SLIMBOB]

The Knots and bends and dips are what makes Bois D'Ark so appealing!  Spiral twists of the bark are an ender.  If the bark goes straight up the tree 6 ' or so, I can work around the rest....mostly.

[crossstickspro]

Going tomorrow to cut what diameter is best. Big or small?

[DEATHMASTER]

Straight.
big or small as long as straight and as knot free as can be.

[scrub-buster]

I've cut osage from 2" to 2'.  You will get more staves from bigger pieces obviously, but its a lot of hard work. If you have the equipment and the room, I would go for a big tree.  Find a good one and you will be set for staves for a long time.