hi guys can anybody help me out. a little while back i cut a branch of field maple took the bark off sealed the ends up tryed to split it then realised it was way to small so left it alone. beenn to check on it and now its started to check on the outer surface that was going to be the back.
so now im about to try cutting some more but was wondering if anyone knows what i can put on the back  to stop it from checking as i was hoping to be able to use as the sap wood as the back for my first selfbow
thanks all    

Shellac works pretty well to seal it up. Or I know some people use wax, but I'm not sure what kind.

thanks joe
the wife has plenty of bees wax will that do and do i just put it on the ends and the outer wood?
just also had a thought does it matter which way the wood sits whilst drying ie heartwood up or sapwood up?

Painter's tape will do if you don't want a mess...........Art B

thanks guys think i have some mas-cine tape and duct tape around so will get cutting this weekend any advise about which way to store it or is it ok anyway?

Draffish checks want hurt the bow as long as they are in the back and not running off the back. You use super glue in them for insurance but as long as they are not to wide and deep you still can get bows out of them. Or you could back them also.

I use tbIII to seal my staves. works good dries fast and is fairly cheap here.

Shellac is the cheapest, most effective sealant I have used.  You can cut it 1:1 with denatured alcohol.  It is also really easy to cleanup and made from natural products.

I use shellac as well. It dries quickly, seals well, holds up pretty good in the steamer and scrapes off easily.

Another option is checking out the mistinted coatings at the hardware store.  I got a 3/4 full gallon can of polyurethane deck coating for $2.50.  It hadn't even been tinted, just opened and used a little. Original price was $50!

thanks guys just waiting to get down the river bed to cut some staves