Osage Stave Prep Tip

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Don't know if you all who harvest and prep your own Osage have ever done this or not?
I have noticed that sometimes even with a good coat of sealer checks can develop right at the top outermost edge of the ring side. I started beveling the edge of the ring end just slightly and also the edges down the sides of the stave the entire length on the ring side. Then I take thin super glue and apply it to the top edge ends on the ring side and down the edges on the ends before I seal.
I'm about half dozen staves and billets into it and it seems to be working nicely. Before I started doing this it was about a 50/50 ratio of whether or not it would develop checks in this area, since using the super glue at the outermost ring edges I have a 100% success rate so far with no checks.

Just thought I'd share this with some of you all who are just getting into harvesting your own Osage and possibly some other species where checking can be a problem.

[Roy from Pa]

Thanks Chris. Got a tip for you too, quit buying super glue in those metal squeeze tubes. Buy it in little plastic bottles. They come in like 1 or 2 ounce bottles, and they work so much better than them tubes.

And ya can wrap that billet up with it's sister and send it to me:)

[Lee Slikkers]

Good tip Chris!  I have taken to beveling the sides slightly but hadn't thought to do the ends like that...got a fresh load to work on so I'll give this tip a try.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Yeah, as much as I use I should buy bigger bottles. They are cheap at the local Dollar Store though, 2 little squeeze tubes for a buck. Can't beat that.

No need to coat the ends any further back than the bevel, and I don't coat the entire edge of the stave down it's length, just round the edge a little. It's worked real good so far.

I also use the best finish I can afford which is Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane. At $14 bucks a pint it's about as much as I'm willing to spend and works pretty good cause it's thicker than polyurethane. I had quite a few check on me using poly, it's great for a bow finish or arrows, but not good for sealing staves cause it's just not thick enough. As a matter of fact, if you have some old varnish or spar urethane that has thickened with age it will work awesome for sealing staves, the thicker the better and it doesn't have to be pretty cause your just gonna remove it when you build the bow anyway.

[Art B]

You can get 4 tubes for a buck at Wally World Chris. Or at least I can here. Have you tried the painter's tape to seal with? I've used the clear packing tape for that as well. Have't tried the tape on really wet wood though....Art

[Lee Slikkers]

Chris, have you compared the Spar Urethane to something like the Bullseye / Zinger Shellac?  I am currently using the Amber tinted shellac cause it helps me see the coverage due to the color vs clear.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Never used shellac before, but I've taken a couple.  

[Lee Slikkers]

[Bowjunkie]

I've always used shellac and never had a single check occur through it anywhere. Guess I'll keep right on using it    

[SEMO_HUNTER]

[DVSHUNTER]

get some shellac from lowes. I use a ton of it. Cheap, dries fastwr than spar and you can reuse the brush. Superglue comes from wally world .97 for four tubes like art said. It by the paint.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I've never found it that cheap at my Wally World. I think they are "sticking" it to me. Dollar Store is the cheapest I've found around here, and I've never seen shellac at Lowes, I asked one time and the gal looked at me like I had a spider on my forehead. Course that doesn't mean it's not there, she had just never heard of it.

I'll do a more thorough search on my own next time I'm there.

[30coupe]

If you have a Menards in your area, they have Bullseye Shellac.

[stringstretcher]

Just brought a quart yesterday.  #13.78 and HD.  And I found it right with the minwax products.

[Eric Krewson]

Ditch the glue for a sealer and use shellac, no checking.

I have told the story before about my sealing the backs of the four finest, straightest, completely clear osage staves I ever cut with wood glue. Looked at them a month later and they were checked from back to belly, I could drop a dime in the checks. I did leave some sapwood on the staves which was a mistake as well.

I read Dean's book "Hunting the Osage Bow", switched to shellac as a sealer, and never lost another stave to checking.

I do use super glue on the end edge of fresh cut bamboo to stop splitting, works great.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

For some reason I can't find shellac in my area? Don't know what it is, but even the places where I've asked about it they act like they have never even heard of it??

I only use super glue on the edges of the ends of the stave, then coat the ends and back with a heavy spar urethane and don't get any checks. Hope I wasn't misleading with this illustration to give the notion that I coated the entire stave with CA glue, I only use it on the edges of the ends of the stave. It has worked well for me so far with no checking on my billets or staves.

[scrub-buster]

I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat, and seal a stave.  I have used shellac and polyurethane and both have worked.  The staves from that big tree have 3 coats of poly on the backs and 4 on the ends.

I think where you put the staves after you seal them has a lot to do with checking too.  If you put them somewhere that gets super hot or they are in direct sunlight, I don't think any amount of sealer would prevent them from checking.