Rawhide backing question?

[Red Tailed Hawk]

I have a pear tree stave I have been holding onto for awhile now. It is a branch from the tree and the stave had many branches coming off of it. I am looking to rawhide back this when tillered out but I am unsure what to do with branch nubs that are there. Do I sand them down " violate ring" to get them flat for rawhide or just leave this one unbacked and leave branch nubs alone? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[dtarbell]

If the back isnt violated Id just leave it unbacked but I have never worked that wood so dont really know its properties.

[John Scifres]

Rawhide will conform to the back.  I'd follow the grain of the ring I chose as the back and, if you feel it's necessary, lay the rawhide over the knots.  You can take the branches out of the knot hole if you want as they aren't really part of the ring that will be your back.