Single ring bow?

[TroutGuide]

I just chased a 1/2 inch thich osage ring in a realy twisted, gnarly stave. It got me to thinking about thick rings in good wood and if anyone ever made a flat bow from one solid ring or at least a bow where the limbs were one solid ring?  And if you have any more staves like it I have a character stave I would be willing to let go in trade so you would have more of a chalenge.    

Troutguide

[fujimo]

how about a picture- would love to see it, pm. sent
wayne

[DVSHUNTER]

Ive made some with only two rings a few years ago. They werent dense rings though and one of them ended up breaking. I havent made a bow with thick rings since then. I try for an eigth inch dense rings with a sixteenth or so of spring growth.
It would be cool to see one with one ring though.

[Art B]

What size dia. tree did it come from?

[PEARL DRUMS]

My hunting bow from last season has 1 1/2 rings on each limb. I love that bow.

[TroutGuide]

I will try and get a pick for you all.  This was from a belly split that I was planing on being trash but I just couldnt pass up trying to chase these rings.  It tapers to 1/4" on the top end but still nice with almost no early wood.  the problem is it is relatively narrow in the tip so I dont know if I can layout a good bow on it yet or not.  It was realy strange just hogging off wood to get down to the ring, but nice also knowing I wouldn't go through.  I actualy cleaned up most of the ring using the drawknife as a scraper to take off the last bits and early wood.  I should have take pictures as the wood was all ripped up due to the spliting process and the wavy grain.  It was the hardest(most work) to chase a ring I have ever experienced.  Unfortinately the back split I was after has the same waves and dips and is only 1/8" rings with more pin knots.  

Art it was a 10-12" diam. tree.

Troutguide

[TroutGuide]

Here are the pics.   I hope they are sized right.  I tried.  The first is the cutoff I made just before I chased the ring.  I chased the top ring the rest of the stave.  That is a quarter sitting on the tip of the stave. I think in some places I had to take off up to an inch of wood.

 
 
 

[PEARL DRUMS]

That is some funky looking hedge.

[TroutGuide]

Why do you say that?

[Art B]

Looks like some very rapid growth happened there. I'll read where inner wood is stronger that the outer wood so that's a plus. Those  large rings could also repersent the compression side from a leaning tree. Know anything about that?

I do know larger rings respond better to heat treating than thin rings so that's an option for you. Good luck.....Art

[PEARL DRUMS]

Almost looks like rings inside of rings. I wouldnt be a bit scared of it, it just looks funky is all.

[RingChaser]

I've seen rings like those on some limbs I've cut off of hugh trees. I was wondering why the rings look that way. I thought maybe they were similar to what Art was saying....really rapid growth. It is almost like spring and latewood growth between the spring and latewood rings.....if that makes sense to anyone...lol...

[Art B]

I think those are referred to as lunar rings RingChaser.

[TroutGuide]

The rings are consistent around the tree so it is not a leaning thing.  They are very solid and dense so I am not worried about there strength I just wish they were staighter.  I have some pictures of the whole log and the splits from it I will try to post those as well.  I was super excited when I saw the butt of this log but when I split it I was very disapointed.  I will try to make some bows from it but it is not going to be easy wood to work with.

Troutguide

[TroutGuide]

 
 
The bottom log is the log and the section is the 2nd from the left,I think.  This is my haul form cutting osage a few weeks ago.  I posted about this before I cut and this is what I ended up with. There was not as many good trees as I was hoping but I am just happy to have wood to scrape on for a while.  I still have several to split so I am sure I will get a few good staves.

[coaster500]

Wow Brian I could chase those even with these eyes, unless Chris is right and those are rings inside of rings!!!

[Art B]

Heart of the tree makes your better bow IMO. Do a heat tempering job on the belly and I believe you got a good bow in the making there. Log you got your finger is ole so nice! Color is what I like to see, but even better, it's heart is centered which helps eliminates a lot of lateral movement as you reduce the stave.

[TroutGuide]

Well I wish it would have split a little staighter and I could use the center more. Next time I am going to split off the outside first and try to save the larger center rings.  I have three more of the splits to work with and another large ringed log to split so I have lots of hope.  I will be going back to this area to cut more later this spring.  There was an area we didn't have time to get too that had some good logs as well.  Now I just need to wait a few months before I pull these back out from under the bed and make some bows.  I cant wait to hear what me wife says when she finaly looks under the bed. The pile keeps growing!!

[Art B]

You may end up with your own bedroom like me TroutGuide  :( !

[George Tsoukalas]

No, I never have. I don't think it matters much as long as your back ring is continuous. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/