Chasing a ring on black locust?

[Strongbow]

So I just got my hands on a 10" diameter, 8' black locust log, and I got 7 staves out of it.  I've done a number of searches on how to handle/work it and from what I understand I need to work this down to a single ring of heartwood for the back of the bow.  But if you look at the second picture I can't tell where the heartwood starts.  Sometime in the next week or two I would like to rough a couple of these staves out and seal the back so they dry a little faster.  Any advice on how to ID the heartwood would be great.  I searched google images and some logs seemed to have very distinct transitions from sap to hardwood while others did not.  I've been trying to get my hands on black locust for a couple years now, and don't want to mess up these staves.  Thanks for any guidance.

[TRACY]

Looks like all heartwood from the pics. In the last pic, there is green sandpaper to the left side and behind. Count down to the 3rd dark ring and try that one for the bows back. Remove all wood above it carefully and take your time. Choose thicker rings when you can. The white ring between each dark one should not be used as the bows back unless you put a backing on it. Seal the backs and ends soon if You're not going to reduce them all at the same time. Looks like so e good BL, nice score and good luck!

Tracy

[Beba]

Sap wood appears more gray in that pic. About 3 rings. 9 or 10 rings down there is a nice ring for the bows back. I'd chase about 2 or 3 rings above it. Seal the ends and back well. Black locust will check like crazy.

[Ross.m.]

Not meaning to hijack the thread but I have a quick question on splitting. If I cut a 5' diameter tree how would I go about splitting it to get the max amount of staves. Split it in half and then into quarters?

[Pat B]

To me black locust works similar to osage. It is tough wood. I hate to chase too many rings but I'd go down to ring #9 and make it the back. That will put all thicker rings in the limbs and thinner rings to fill out the handle. It does look like the sapwood has already rotted off. Generally the heartwood is rot resistant so you should be OK.
 I've made more locust bows than almost any other wood but, because I learned with locust, most of those bows were badly bent and didn't survive. That was 20 years ago.

[IdahoMatt]

 I've made more locust bows than almost any other wood but, because I learned with locust, most of those bows were badly bent and didn't survive. That was 20 years ago.
[/quote]

That's starting to sound like my situation

I like locust a lot.  Can't wait to get a functioning one out of it.  I am learning a lot in the process.

Strongbow those are some good looking staves. 

[huisme]

I, personally, would go with the fifth ring on that end pic for the back. I'd call the sixth ring a good insurance ring, and the tenth if that one's spoiled.

I've done two build-alongs, the second being the only one that includes ring chasing but it's for a mollegabet.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,43738.0.html

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,44858.0.html

Black locust is my best and most available wood, and it taught me to tiller pretty quick. I loved working the two osage staves I've had and I love shooting my osage bow, but I find the speed of the less elastic BL well worth the extra caution in construction. I say if I had to pick one stave of one bow to attempt one bow I'd pick osage because I'm not a dummy, but if I was allowed to chose five staves of the same wood I'd pick black locust to make a couple of the fastest bows I can.

[Steve Milbocker]

I have a Black Locust Marc St Louis built for me a few years back. It is one of the finest shooting bows I have ever owned and that's compared to all the glass bows I've owned as well, and I've had a boat load of them!

[WhitefeatherFout]

The first three maybe four rings would be the sapwood it looks like, gray in color in this case.  I would guess the tree was starting to die out which would cause the sapwood to start changing from white to gray.  I would also suggest that the tree was canopied over(or something else caused it to grow slow) and grew a lot slower for several years where you have all the tight rings.  Then trees around it were cleared possibly allowing it to grow faster again.  Because of this, I wouldn't recommend mixing the tight rings and larger rings if you can avoid it. Often times the different growth rates will cause tension in the wood and cause it to twist or buckle when thinned down.

[George Tsoukalas]

I learned on BL too. I must admit NH BL has much thicker rings. It grows fast here. When you remove the bark the back will check so do use poly. Make sure the ends are sealed well.

I learned on BL too.

Jawge

[Strongbow]

Thanks for the advice.  Glad to hear I've scored some primo bow wood   Hopefully I'll get some time in the shop later this week to reduce one and seal it good.