Walnut self bow

[perimogi]

I have a walnut stave the has 3/4 inch of sapwood on one end and 3/8 on the other, not sure if the guy that cut it did that or not.  I want to reduce the sapwood thickness to about 1/8 to 1/4 an inch and then have the remaining part be heartwood.  Do I have to follow the grain of the sapwood, or can it be crossed and still be strong? Thanks for any advice you might have.

[Brently]

This is a good question, I would like to know how much sap wood to leave on a black walnut self bow also.

[Pat B]

You always have to follow the grain on the back ring of a selfbow no matter the wood!

[burnt]

How much wood do you have to play with. you could rip it down the middle, cut the two staves in half, flip the ends around and splice them together so the sap wood tappers down on both limbs. If you dont have that much wood and dont wont to just follow the grain cause the lopsided thickness in color is not to your liking ,you could even out the thickness of the sapwood and sinew back it.

[perimogi]

Thanks for the input.

[OzarkMatt]

If you do make this bow, please post progress!  

[perimogi]

I plan on working on it, I will take a before picture, then an after one.  I hope that I will be able to make it work.