Ted, I am working a pecan stave now. Just moved to short string. Now on this little bow I left some of the bark on, and when tillered to about twenty inches I heard the terrible sound crack. Turned out to be just the bark popping off. This is my first Pecan, and it has been drying for almost a year, in the attic. Don't know if it is normal for the bark to pop off like that, but I will remove all the bark from the stave on the next one.