Hickory and knots?

[Don Armstrong]

Went to a guy's house that I work with, to see an osage tree, which is rare in my pary of Virginia. We were going to do a trade, osage for a longbow. There wasn't a straight piece on the tree. It was forked coming out of the ground and each fork was approx. 4' around. This tree must be very old. He was disapointed, but I had decided to give him a selfbow, even if the osage didn't work out. I let him shoot several bows and he liked one of the hickory bows so I gave him the bow, four arrows and a tab. I told him he could have the bow,arrows and tab free but he wouldn't let me leave without cutting a hickory tree for staves. Now to my question. Will the knots in the pictures below keep me from making bows out of these staves. If not, how do I work the knots. This was a standing tree but had some worm holes in the heart wood,shown in the pictures below. I didn't see any holes in the white wood so should I spray the heart wood or leave it alone. I sealed the ends and the backs with two coats of Deft. All the other 10 staves are clear of knots but have some holes in the heart wood. Is this unusal for hickory, to have worm holes, in standing timber. Sorry for the long winded thread. Thanks, Don

 

 

 

 

[Don Armstrong]

One more picture.

 

[Pat B]

Heck no! That looks like nice hickory on the backs. You won't know about the worm holes until you get belly side reduced. Try to position your bow so no knots are on the edge. Follow the grain as it swirls around a knot and incorperate that in the bow. If that hickory was handled properly from the stump it is about as strong of a bow backing as you can get just like it is.

[Eric Krewson]

Probably carpenter ant damage to the heart wood.

[JamesV]

I built a hickory board bow backed with hickory that had a small knot the size of  pin head in the working part of the limb. The bow shot great but after maybe 300 shots it failed at the knot.