Disclaimer: This goes against everything I preach about this wood. If you wanna call me a hypocrite go right ahead.
After all the hooplah on pearlys thread it gave me enough kick in my butt to try something I've wanted to try for the last few years. Seeing and shooting Josh's(Gun Doc) unbacked anomaly a couple years ago has always made me ponder if I could pull one off unbacked. I've always had a good stock of high ring count n decently clean,but just never had the balls to try one. So Wednesday eve I grabbed a stave out of the shed and ripped the bark off to see what I had. I decided to decrown it down perfectly flat giving me ~1/2" of sapwood. I then sealed the back and called it a night to ponder on layout and if I really wanted to go thru with this stupid idea. The next morning I consulted with Josh to help me make a decision about it as he has made a few unbacked. Well tonight i layed it out,cut it out,and took it down to floor tiller where I stopped this eve. Wish me luck
Here's stave after it was decrowned
Here's a close up of the decrowned back.
Side profile after belly reduction,and into floor tiller.
The belly showing its ERC...it should have some purple red left IF it gets to shooting.
What the heck am I thinking!!!!! I'm prob about to embarrass myself in front of everybody...lol. At least this might show that we all break em.