quick question, andy advice will help

[Bow Nut]

I was chasing a ring a osage stave last night and I went two core layers under sap wood.  I got it chased and looked it over and it had some bad discoloration where some of it was just not orange looking it was kinda a brownish white orange color.  My question is this weathering and is it something I should worry about should I go deeper.  I would have gone deeper anyway but that was the thickest ring the stave had alltought they are all nice thick rings but that one was dang near 1/4 inch thick  I would hate to scrape such a nice ring of the stave.

[cowboy]

I've seen that a lot on osage. A ring or two down from the sap wood you may have a kind of merge of the two until you get down into pure heart wood. Either that or the rings separated at some point and there's some deterioration going on there. Got pictures? I've always gone down to pure yellow so couldn't offer any advice on a combo of the two but do know that sapwood will work for a back too.

[Bow Nut]

well I am new to self bow making and the last one I went about 6 rings deep to hit a good thick one.  I will go ring by ring untill I hit a good one.  I dont like the sape wood I heard it is not a good backing for an experiement I took my band saw and a scrap log that was only 2ft long I cut the sap wood off and then some hear wood and test bent both.  when i bent the sapwood it did not spring back at all kept every bit of the bend and the heart wood sprand right back to the original shape.  this goes to tell me that sap wood on osage is not good if you leave it you will end up with alot of set is my guess.  any experinence with that?

[cowboy]

None at all . There is a recently posted osage limb bow with sap back and looks to be fine. Others have built em that way with good results, i just never have. Good drying and cure time i would think will determine the bows efficiency. Give it time, plenty others will chime in here.

[Bow Nut]

Yea I saw that looks like very little set.  my staves have been drying for 2 years so they are dry maybe the sap wood on myne are just to weathered or somthing.  Thanks for the input and advise I will go deeper untill I get to the nice orange yellow color accross whole back.

[blackhawk]

Can you post a picture of the spot. It might be ok and will save you from chasing another ring.

[Bow Nut]

well it is not just one spot it is kinda long the whole length just down one side and sorry no pics I am at work and did not get any taken.  the stave is 70 inches and it runs about 40 or 50 inches down one edge about 1 inche in looks like it would be brittle the stave is 3 inches wide so might still be able to get a bow out of the remaining 2 inches.

[blackhawk]

Chasing a 70" long x 3" wide stave is a whole lot of unnessessary ring chasing. You should be able to read the grain where your at and lay the bow out in it,and leave the tips about an inch wide. Then rough it down to shape to your layout lines. That way you don't have to chase as much. Can you layout a bow on the 2" side and miss the area you mentioned? If so then your gooolden.

Im at work too and can't wait to get outta here to go work on an Osage to be sinewed. Hopefully this weekend

[Bow Nut]

I hear yea black hawk other than my wife and son that is what I live for.  well my plan was to chase the ring thin out the belly and steam straighten the stave because it is very off center and curvy.  once I got it as straight as posible I was going to then lay the bow out one it but I will try it your way thanks

[denny]

Hi there fellow bowyer, Denny here< I would venture to say you have done what is needed in the process. The color is not uncommon among the staves I have worked with over the 23 years I have scraped them.They have never created anything but beauty. As to sap  wood used as backing. Why not? it makes a nice white contrast and is a natural backing of the stave . Have done it with lots of success.This is if it isn't too thick, I recommend 1/8 of an inch. I hope this helps. Denny

[George Tsoukalas]

Bow Nut, pictures please. I can't understand from your description. I only leave sapwood on if there is not enough heartwood to make a bow. If I have to leave it on I get as close as possible to the heartwood.  Sapwood becomes heartwood so the the last ring of sapwood is almost heartwood. I really can't see the point except to save time. This is my hobby so I enjoy it and see no reason to save time. Anyway, heartwood is stronger and denser than sapwood. Jawge

[Bow Nut]

well I already took care of it.  basical I had already chased a ring two rings past the sap (white) wood and the core ring I had chased was very discolored not white not orange brownish and brittle looking.  What I did was just kept chasing a ring one at a time untill i got to a nice orange ring.  I just did not want to have to do that unless I had to because the brownish ring was very thick but I did not want to take a chance on trusting it so I went deeper.  I think it was weathering but not sure.  Basically I was trying to find out if any one had seen that before and what it was as I am learning here.  I can make a fine bow but am new to self bows and dont want to make firewood.  any way the ring I made it to is excellent and thick just not as thick as the other one.

Thanks Every one