Which ring to chase

[bigcountry]

I myself would go down to that ring that Dano pointed out. I tried a belly split with bad results before. 

[GregB]

The last bow I posted was a belly split, and we got two additional roughed in bows out of the top section. There may be a little risk, but as thick as those grains are in the area you'd split off the belly, I don't think you'd have much trouble. We do have a lot of osage though, and don't mind taking risks with a piece. Your decision...

[DCM]

Taking a belly split from a stave with that much crown will cost you two rings, at least.  It will yield a useless, other than as a bbo core upper split.  If you have enough depth, unlikely with that much crown, you could do it but it only serves to reduce the time getting to the one good stave.  And it risks that one good stave.  I've got osage running outa my ears, and I'm tight as they come, and I would not take a belly split off that stave.  I might take a core off the top with a bandsaw, but only if the stave was real nice and I had the chops on the saw to not cut into the good stave.  JMHO.

[Eric Krewson]

I splice a lot of billets and save the wedge shaped pieces when I cut the splices. The wedges are perfect for splitting off belly cores, lot less damage to the wood opposed to using steel wedges. Of course you have to start the split with steel and proceed with wood wedges.

[George Tsoukalas]

That's the ring I'd go to also. Hard to say about the belly split. I'd probably do it but DCM has a good point. Jawge

[kylerprochaska]

Im not going to do a belly split....I don't think I have enough experience to do it successfully.  I think I'll just stick to the old fashioned way and use my draw knife

Ky

[Pat B]

Ky, take your time and remove each ring one at a time. You will earn a wealth of knowledge that way as you are removing the unwanted wood.

[sami bow]

I have successfully split osage and ash wood along one ring, just to get two staves out of one. I usd small  osage wedges and marked the ring I wanted to follow and wedged all the way around the stave on the same ring and popped it apart cleanly. That was on staves with no or almost no knots and thick rings.

If clear enough, you may be able to pop off the layer of thin rings and still use them for a kids bow.

Not a guaranteed method though.  You have to start your crack with a little chisel and mallet, the start the wedges , and the wedges must be thin enough to follow the ring, but thick enough not to bend.