working with walnut

[sadiejane]

a buddy of mine had a 15 yr old walnut log he kept thinking he would do some wood working with.
well, he started making bows last fall and decided to split that log up and make bows instead of furniture.
there was some rot on the outside so no sapwood left at all
but the inside is beautiful wood and hard as walnut can be
he got about 5 nice staves outta it and one rather questionable one.
can he continue and try to make bows with no sapwood at all?
he worked one stave down a bit last week, man what amazing grain
not likely but maybe able to chase a ring...
gun doc brought a beautiful walnut bow by tues that shoots great and looks even better
but it had some sapwood tho it had been decrowned...
what yall think?

i did send my bud this series of vids by bcgrover who does great bows and vids of bow making
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwWJwbp1Gko

[Bevan R.]

Just my opinion, but some rawhide would be pretty cheap insurance.

[half eye]

no walnut stave experience, but made plenty out of quartersawn...both types work well but the heartwood recovers faster (snappier) it's real good bow wood.
rich

[tattoo dave]

I agree with Rich! I've made a few all sap wood board bows with zero backings, and they were great. I'll be gettin my hands on lots of walnut boards here shortly, so you all will be seeing lots of walnut sticks comin from me.

Tattoo Dave

[soy]

All ive done walnut wise is from rotted exterior chace a ring hart wood 1 air backed and 1rawhide backed ...no sap wood and good results