New Stave( Pics added)

[ranger 3]

I have a new stave I'm working on. I have found a few pin knots in it and have a question. When scraping down to a ring do you go to the same ring that the knot is on or leave it humped up there and scrap to the next ring around it? I hope I explained this right...Howard

[No-sage]

The back of the bow should be all one growth ring.

[Eric Krewson]

Back in the old days I followed advice put out by one of the early writers on making bows. He recommended leaving and island of wood over pins.

After having a few "islands" fail I now follow the same grain I choose for a bows back over the pins.

I usually use a Dremel with a steel burr to do my initial ring chasing over pins. As soon as I break through to the correct grain in most of the areas around  the pin I switch to my pin knot scraper or a curved end cabinet scraper to finish the job.

Here is a pin knot scraper I made out of a concrete nail, really good for fine work around pins.

 

[ranger 3]

Eric do you have a picture of a pin after it is finished?

[ranger 3]

Here they are after I worked them down.