osage crack

[paulsemp]

I gotta admit I'm a little confused just want to make sure I'm reading this right. Some of you guys never take any sandpaper to the backs of the bow? I always do to remove the rest of the pith and clean it up a little.

[DC]

I don't. I use the curved part of my pocketknife to scrape away any unwanted crap. I once used the little wire brush that comes with the Dremel tool on the back of a yew bow. It cleaned the last little bits of bark out beautifully. Left the wood unmarked. I'm so paranoid about backs that it bothers me to round out the handle a bit.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Buncha' paranoid wierdos!

[lebhuntfish]

   !

Patrick

[Lee Lobbestael]

If you guys don't sand the back of your bows, how do do you get em smooth?

[osage outlaw]

I always sand my backs to 220 grit.

[DC]

What's under the bark is already smooth, well, smooth enough.

[Pappy]

I don't sand the back, at least not much. I do all my cleaning when I am chasing the ring with my scrapper, I don't sand much anyway except the edges/tips and some on the belly. An as far as knot  cracks Pearl, I have had very bad luck if the crack runs across the limb at a knot, no problem much if it runs longitudinally, not paranoid just from my experience.
 Pappy

[Aaron H]

I always sand down to 240, sometimes 320

[Marc St Louis]

Wood pretty well always has some character under the bark, such as ridges, hollows, lumps, and if you start sanding you will sand the ridges more than the depressions causing irregular ring thickness and if you have thin rings then this could be a serious problem.  Sand the edges always but never the back

[Parnell]

Wood pretty well always has some character under the bark, such as ridges, hollows, lumps, and if you start sanding you will sand the ridges more than the depressions causing irregular ring thickness and if you have thin rings then this could be a serious problem.  Sand the edges always but never the back

How is it in 7 years of making, reading, and being around all this stuff this is the first time I am aware of this?  Learn something new every day, I guess...
I see the point, Marc.  I don't sand much.  Just get any funny business out of it, hit the edges, and a quick once over.

[Eric Krewson]

I have sanded the backs on 150 or more bows, almost all osage, to a slick glass like surface, no problems so far.

I have never seen osage that had consistent ring thickness from one end to the other so I don't feel like removing a few thousands of wood from the back will make any difference whatsoever.

I go over the back with an orbital sander first to get rid of all the washboard left from scraping and follow up with hand sanding to get rid of the little swirls the orbital sander leaves.

On very thin ring osage I don't use the orbital sander and exercise caution with my sandpaper for obvious reasons.

I like the backs and bellies slick, like this one. This bow had 13 drying checks in the back filled with superglue and a slick back. It is my oldest bow and neither sanding the back or filling the checks with superglue has ever been a problem.

[paulsemp]

If i chase rings i sand. If the back is under the bark i barely sand

[Marc St Louis]

Orbital sander?  Ouch, I guess it's my turn to learn something, although I still won't do it  .  A scraper is about it for me

[bradsmith2010]

I like that Marc,. I sometimes lightly sand, but I think I will stop doing that, whats the point if you might compromise the back,, I guess really no need to sand if the back was worked properly,,thanks for the tip,,