I received my first osage stave yesterday! I was so taken by it that I put all my other projects on hold and started right away. I was told to take all the sap wood off immediately and seal the back. This was only cut a week or so ago. Most of the white stuff was already scraped off when I got it. I figured why not chase a ring for the back? I was planning on taking it down to near bow dimensions to speed up the drying/curing process. How long should this take? Any way, I selected a fat growth ring down about three rings to be my back. I started on the fat end since one end is about 3" wide and the other about 2". The rings are much tighter on the small end, and I've never done this before. It started off real easy. I would work some with the draw knife, but mostly with my scraper. I was about 2/3 of the way down the stave when I lost the ring. It was so easy to follow and then nothing??? I was using the soft pithy stuff between real wood to follow my way, and then it all seemed to meld into the ring below it. Any way, I had to pick a deeper ring. Started at the small end this time and worked towards the other. I am about 2/3 down the stave in the other direction now and into the thicker end where it's easier. Can one ring grow into another without that in-between layer? Sorry about using my own words for this stuff. I'm just a beginner with these self bows and haven't learned the proper terms yet.
Topic: Chasing my first ring in osage! (Read 247 times)
