cambium removal

[sailordad]

    hi everyone

i got this really nice hick stave from one of the nice folks on here,thanks again.

i really like the texture of the back of hick self bows and i do like the looks of the cambium on it also.
however this stave has some really thick spots that fill in the mice little gullies on the back.
i spent about an hour and half on it tonight trying to reduce the amount of cambium. i have been using  a pocket knife so that i could get into the gullies some what.
this is goinf to take a month of sundays doing like this.
so my question to all of you are   " is there an easier way to remove the cambium"

thanks for the input and here are a couple of pics

[Coo-wah-chobee]

 Soak it inhot water er put it in the shower. Thats ifn ya gonna dry it out again. Otherwise toast the camb carefully over a fire and scrape. The key word here is CAREFULLY. Good luck...............bob

[sailordad]

   thanks bob,
 i think since its -20* tonight and  a high of -4* tomorrow and 2.5 ft of snow on the ground i will go with the shower method.
the wife will think i am nuts when she sees me take that in there with me tomorrow

i'm thinking it probably wont take real long in this dry air here for it to dry again,but just to be safe i will put it in the hot box for a few days afterwards.

thanks again

                                                                               peace,
                                                                                     tim

[Pat B]

cut hickory during the growing season!

[AKAPK]

I just used a flake of Obsidean ,It only took a half hour,I didn't push down to hard . I also dampened a sponge and rubbed a bit didn't want to saturate my hickory Holmy
I notice that scraping in both directions shreds the cambium faster, then I used the scrubber lighly on the back of the sponge after the sponge was dry. of coarse I did leave a little Cambium.

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[El Destructo]

It don't bother Me....thats why I don't always take the Bark off....I like the Cambium....plus I am lazy....it's easier to spray them for Bugs....and peel em when you need em!! Only thing I try to strip Bark on is Locust and Hedge....and I get lazy there too......

[GregB]

Some rougher sand paper folded and using the edges should get into those recessed area's...

[John B.]

I think it looks great just the way it is.   

And in my book, Hickory and water don't mix.  I'd never put a Hickory stave in the shower.  YMMV.

[Dave 55]

You are about right on the month of Sundays,I took mine down with a draw knife and piece of glass and ended up going down to the 2nd ring in one spot,would have been better of leaving some of the cadmium.

[DanaM]

Tim all I ever use some 150 grat sandpaper and a dullish scrapper.
Hope that stave works out for ya, yell when you want to try a hard maple eh

[TRACY]

I use the small end of the goose neck scraper if I've got one w/ a few valleys on the back. I generally like the camo effect of the partially removed cambium layer like AKAPK has shown.

Tracy

[Dean Marlow]

I like the looks of it the way it is. Before I would take a chance and cut a ring I would leave it like it is. Dean

[Hillbilly]

As hard as it is to get hickory dry, the last thing I would do is soak it in water. It usually scrapes off fairly easily for me.