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.
(http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss13/dvshunter/CIMG0126.jpg) I'll get the rest of em tomorrow.
(http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss13/dvshunter/CIMG0124-1.jpg) 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
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
the first one that I worked took me something in the neighborhood of three weeks to chase. I guess practice makes better. Never perfect
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.