rotten wood or not? please advise

[dragonman]

I saw this straight hawthorn tree by the side of the road last spring and I just noticed some one has cut off the top and left it standing , so it died. I sawed it down and debarked it today and there was some surface 'spalding' or rot. This can be easily scraped off with a sharp knife but does this mean the wood will be no-good, or will it be good underneath??? It still feels heavy it hasnt dried out yet, but died standing over the course of a year.

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[RidgeRunner]

I would consider any white wood in that condition as firewood.

David

[acker]

Take the rotten wood of with your drawknife.
If you're lucky  it's just 1" deep in the wood .

acker

[dragonman]

It doesnt go deeper than a few scrapes with a sharp blade or I wouldnt consider using it, but was wondering if even that was a sign the wood was compromised?

[Mark Anderson]

I'd scrape it all of and see where it's at from there. It looks to me like it's just the cambium layer that is mis-colored which would be expected if it has been dead any amount of time. I have pulled bark off walnut and underneath it looked much like that, took a lot more scraping than I would have liked but it was fine underneath the dried cambium.
Mark

[paganwannbe]

This might sound a bit crazy but if you do make it and it  blows up you know not to try something like that again but if it does not you get a new bow out of it and it will probably be one of a kind to. But hey man whatever floats your boat and I know I'm not much help but if you do make try to take a video so if it blows up you can show everybody what happens when a bow breaks that has not seen it and wants to avoid it.

[El Destructo]

Do not waste your time with Spaulted Whitewoods...you will waste time...and possibly get Hurt when it Blows...and it will....just a matter of when...trust me...I have tried a number of them...and they hurt when they Blow......and it Blows when they Hurt....

[George Tsoukalas]

Dead whitewood is not a good choice for bows. Jawge

[HoBow]

Spalted wood looks nice on many other projects- like knife handles

[Jmilbrandt]

I would use it for fire wood i have tried some like that they all blew on me. It's not worth your time.

[Pappy]

I would use it for fire wood also ,but if you want to give it a try, to save you some time after you get the bad looking wood off take a sliver and make a quick little small bow,maybe a foot long and see how it bends,if it bends good without breaking then go for it.Most white wood are no good and dry rot very quick when left outside in the elements. I do the small bow trick quite offten on wood I have questions about. 
   Pappy

[Del the cat]

I see you are in Wales (UK like me).
I'm with commadore on this one...
If you want to see what you can get away with check out my one hour bow http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,16984.0.html   It was Hazel, with nasty grey patches in most of the wood, I was going to throw it away, but quickly chopped it into a working bow.
The bottom line is make your own choice weighing up the time expended vs risk.
If it's your only available wood then it seems good enough to me, I've use similar 'standing dead' wood (Maple) and once you got under the first half inch it was beautiful.
I s'pose your local climate and insect population will make a big difference too (those guys in the USA have some mean bugs, six foot wing spans on some of 'em I've heard
Del

[Sparrow]

Pappy's dead on with the little bow technique.It tells you plenty ' Frank

[dragonman]

Thanks guys for the imput. Looks like the general opinion is, leave it. The bow test is a good idea though, may try it when I've got time. But I've got betterr wood, fancied trying hawthorn though and it was so straight for hawthorn pity!!

[wodpow]

By now you should have split it out and should of noticed if a fungus has made it's way to any depth. I have used one year dead standing Hickory and the only thing that I had to deal with was those little white grub borers under the bark and going into the heart wood in places.