Hop Hornbeam???'s

[koan]

My boy and I just cut a Hop hornbeam the hard way toying with the idea of hatchet bows for Mojam. Thinkin it was a white wood( hard to chase a growth ring with a hatchet) I was surprized to find out that there was bout an 1/8" of sapwood under the bark. My question is this, do I just remove the bark like hickory or chase a ring like osage for the back? Maybe its just new growth but its definately very different color than the rest of the log...very light in color . Never worked it before so these are probably silly questions to those of you who have but I need a little help here.....Thanks....Brian

[George Tsoukalas]

It's a whitewood, brian. Yake off the bark and make a bow. Treat it like hickory pretty much as far as width and length go . It should have more sapwood. What is its diameter? jawge

[Pappy]

I treat it just like Hickory,never noticed the sap wood being AL that thin.Are you sure it is
HHB ? I don't usually chase a ring ,just clean up the inner bark after I get the main bark
off.Of course I cut mine in the summer so the bark slips right off like Hickory.
   Pappy

[Marc St Louis]

Sometimes HHB will have dark sapwood and sometimes light. It usually has more sapwood than that but I have seen quite a few variations over the years. Regardless you don't want to try chasing a ring.

[koan]

jawge, its bout 5 1/2" across...Pappy, it looks just like the stave I got from you at the Classic...leaves look similar to elm...Brian