Hey guys,
Some of you might have saw me working on this bow at Marshall this weekend (Hi, I'm Tony. To the few people who might notice, I changed my username to something more ... fitting, for myself).
Once I got looking at it close enough, it looks like there are a few little spots on the back of the bow where I must have nicked it when removing the bark. Given the nature of the wood (sugar maple), it's really hard to distinguish, but I am pretty sure I went through the outermost growth ring.
My initial reactions to this were: (1) it's so minor it might not matter, and (2) it's a diffuse porous wood that doesn't have "earlywood" and "latewood", so it might not matter. But then also (3), I have some rawhide and how hard would it be to back it anyways?
I know there will basically two reactions here. The first is the "Yes! Definitely back it!" The second, "Try it and see."
Part of me, the lazy/curious part, says just keep going and see what happens.
The safer part (which isn't very big), says play it safe and back it with rawhide.
I've tried to look up information and have come across some, but not a lot. Many places seem to suggest that maple should handle ring violations quite well.
This post on PaleoPlanet goes into it a little bit.
My thinking is that because I'm fairly positive it's just small holes in the outermost ring, and not past several, it might be OK. And because it's a
diffuse porous wood, which should be pretty homogenous as far as density goes, it might not be a big deal at all. It's not like osage/locust/ash/elm/oak/any other ring porous wood, with brittle early growth; it's
basically just a solid hunk of wood with colored lines. But on the other hand, individual fibers
have been broken.
Thoughts? Those with experience with the particular species most helpful. I know there are a few of you here.
