Scott chasing a king I mean "Ring" (Video added)

[JW_Halverson]

Three things contributed to making this video, in my opinion.

1)  Well aged osage.  Once osage is well aged, the draw knife is naturally going to wanna slip between the growth rings and slide thru that crunchy early wood.  In the video you can really year it.  It's like he's running the draw knife thru rice crispies!

2) Good light source at the right angle.  I noticed Scott arranging the light to take advantage of the angles.  If you can't see the growth ring, you can't chase it.  Play with your light source if you are having trouble seeing what you are looking for.  I like a worklight like Scott's.  I position it up the stave from where I am working and shining down and at an angle toward me.  Makes the grain POP!

3) Practice.  Practice leads to confidence.  There, now you got ANOTHER reason to make yet ANOTHER bow! 


Thanks guys for posting this Mythbusting video!  Chasing rings ain't rocket surgery!

[gstoneberg]

Impressive Scott.  Very nice work. 

To JWs excellent list I would add that

• There were no real nasty knots.  Knots where  you have to follow a growth ring up and over slow you down and knot clusters are even worse.
• Nice ring thickness.  Thin rings require a little more care and time.

This in no way takes anything away from that display of draw knife skill.  The thing Scott does that is required for quick wood removal is starting out a ways into the stave (not at the end) and pulling the wood off towards him so he can peel multiple rings at one time.  You can remove all the sapwood a long with a few heartwood rings the same way if the wood was seasoned with the sapwood on.

Again, nice work bud.

George

[nativenoobowyer86]

I think i can peel green, summer elm bark off a little faster.  leaving a finished back.......but just barely

[Stringman]

Good points, JW and George. The reason this video was only five minutes was cause everything was right. If you start adding problems, it behooves a guy to take care and slow down. Knots, character, poor rings, and less than seasoned wood can all make this job a bit more tedious. The good thing is that this is no race. No reason to speed thru a stave and risk mussin the job when you could do better in second gear.

One more tip, when I hit a knot I usually go around it and come back to clean it up later. Many times I will chase a ring and realize I need to go down another ring or two. If I spend a lot of time cleaning up a knot just to go down another ring that's a waste.

@ Blackhawk- I'm gonna start work on that stave and let you help me with it, cause I got questions on that one!

Thanks for the interest!
Scott

[bobbykelley]

Thanks for showing this. Now I know I don't have to treat it like a baby. I was taking it easy.

[blackhawk]

Sweet...bring it on man...even if you can't lay it out keeping the cracks in the stave you can always wrap it where it runs off, n it'll hold...I've had to do that with a few staves too..if its osage it'll make a bow ..cus its the king 

[toomanyknots]

It was more like watching an important surgery instead of a ring chasing. I bet you guys would make good surgeons.  lol Thank you for making this video. Ring chasing is not my favorite thing to do admittedly, and I am not the best at it. What gets me is belly splits with thin rings, where it becomes hard for me to tell which ring is overlapping which ring or how far I need to chase down to reach the ring I want. I just need more practice I guess. You guys sure put me to shame.

[RidgeRunner]

WOW! That was fast!
I peel rings the same way. Just not that fast.

When I went back a reread the first post I noticed that you stated that he used a Draw Knife....
Somehow, I missed that when my ,way to high, time was posted???

The video shows how to use a draw knife UPSIDE DOWN.  It is just MHO that this is the best way to peel Osage rings.
The knife does not have to all that sharp.  It works more like a wedge.  Not like a knife that cuts.

Good video.
David

[iowabow]

David the funny thing about this video is he is not in a hurry this his normal pace. We chased three staves before this video I think and the video I shot of the second was faster. He is a big guy and that makes a difference. When I was working a ring the wt of my upper body would not carry the blade as far so I think Scott was like "here I will do it" and it was clear that being larger was a great advantage. I am just happy I can run a ring in 15 minutes it took me weeks when I just scraped each ring because I was afraid to make a mistake.

[Shaun]

Was the draw knife sharp? Which way up? Nice going. I tend to get tears in the surface of the ring if I go that fast even in dry wood.

[iowabow]

Scott works with the bevel down and flat side up. But as I stated before people do it both ways. I work the stave the same as Scott. I did notice the width of his draw knife was thinner. This is an advantage because he can twist the shavings with less effort than I can do with mine.

[BowEd]

Cool.Nice job fellas.Now do you tiller that fast too?.....LOL.For me bevel down that way I don't run the risk of gouging of course.

[iowabow]

Well there was talk of doing a speed shaping/floor tillering video but might have to shoot that one at beadmans house lol. Just kidding beadman you like to think things over for a couple of days first on things like 6 mons on backing and such lol. We will have to put you at the end of the bow making process. You do have a pretty fast snapshot

[BowEd]

Well if you can find me out here in the sticks your welcome.I'm a little off the beaten track over here.Just the way I like it.

[JW_Halverson]

I have one draw knife that is designed to use bevel down, like I am used to.  And then I got another one from BevanR that is designed to work bevel up!  I am equally comfortable now with each after ranting for years "bevel down, bevel down"!  Each has it's purposes. 

As for sharp versus dull draw knives, that really comes down to how good of tool control you have.  I feel I have good control, and I am very happy to have my draw knife sharp enough to slice a frog's ear hairs the long way.