Problem with hickory stave

[Dionisio]

Hi everyone. First post in this site.
I've made some board bows out of oak and now I am tring to make a hickory bow from a stave.
 The stave is straight, 72" long and has no twist that I can see. I purchased it with the bark remaining on the stave and all I have to do is remove the bark and inner bark to have the back of the bow.
 I removed the inner bark from about half of the stave with no problems. But when I started on the other end of the stave the first 20" have a lot of places where something has bored into the wood and has gone through a least 2 rings of white wood. I am not sure what to do at this point.
 The options I see are:
1. Start chasing rings (I don't have the confidence to do that)
2. Make a bow 52" inches long (I don't want to do that either)
3. Don't worry about violating rings and back the bow with something.

I was wondering if there is any way I could patch those bad spots with something.

I may contact the place I purchased the stave from to see if I can return it for another one. I just want to get some opinions here before I did that.
 I would think the wood could have been treated with insecticide to prevent this from happening.

Any suggextions would be appreciated.


Dennis

[DEATHMASTER]

Chase the ring. It is not as hard as you think and will give you experience.
JMHO
Tim

[Pat B]

Depending on how deep the bores go you can probably fill the holes with super glue. Chasing a ring would be the best option.
  How long have you had the stave? If it has been too long the dealer may not replace it as the damage could have happened on your watch.     Pat

[John Scifres]

Assuming you stored the stave inside, you should not have gotten bugs.  I'd ask for a new stave.

If that isn't an option, chase the rings.  It's not hard at all and you will have a couple rings to practice on where the bugs have gotten in.

Here's a webpage I did that might help.

 Roughing out a selfbow and chasing rings

[Dionisio]

Thanks guys

I think the areas are to large for super glue.

I've only had the stave for about 3 weeks so the bugs did their dirty work before I received it.
If I return it for another one I might end up with the same problem again. So since I have some of the work out of the way on this one I'll try chasing rings.

I'll check out the web site, thanks.

[KILLER B]

Get a scraper and go slow chasing the rings.  Once you chase rings on hickory osage will be cake walk.

[Roy Steele]

If your rings arn't real close,chase a ring.But if you have no experence.You can do 2 things,gain some experence.You have to start somewhere.It's only wood.Or you can back it.Super glue i've never used.
  Let me ask anyone this.Has anyone backed a whole bow with super glue.