Hawkeye the Hornbeam you have doesn't need to have a ring chased, just get the bark and cambium layer off and your good to go 
Pat I'm having the same trouble with PM's 
My hornbeam stave broke at a knot in the middle when i tried to straighten it out (a little twist in it, okay it wasnt so LITTLE...) but yeah... it is prolly 10 miles away i through in the river next to me
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(where all my failures go, other then ones i can see use in, or useful staves that can be made into shortbows...)
well... i have some Hop-hornbeam (this time i KNOW its hop-hornbeam
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the bark looks like paper went thru a paper shredder, made 20x thicker, AND glued all over the tree with them all facing in the same downward direction
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) very straight and not many knots and they are all small, but i dont want them to affect anything so i brought this topic up... i heard it cant hurt to chase rings on ANY wood
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just woods like osage NEED it more then others
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