ash bow question

[mitchman]

i have a nice ash stave thats debarked. i was wondering if i should use the next grouth ring or just go ahead and make a cool lookin one with the brown speckles and stuff from the layer under the bark. ill post a pic tomorrow if you dont know what i mean.

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

you can use it as is. no need to chase a ring.-Ryan

[Hillbilly]

Don't try to go down another ring. You can scrape the rest of the cambium off, or leave a bit of it for looks. I would get the biggest part of it off, just try not to cut into the outer ring. A cabinet scraper or knife blade held perpendicular to the stave will get most of the cambium off in a few minutes of scraping.

[Eric Garza]

I would say it depends.  Are you planning on backing the bow, or do you want to leave it unbacked?  If you plan on backing it, I'd scrape that outer ring as clean as you can.  Otherwise you're free to leave a little inner bark on there for looks.

-Eric

[mitchman]

i dont know if im going to back it or not. im might try some rawhide on it.

[Hillbilly]

Mitch, that stave doesn't need backing-it's got good thick rings and should make a good selfbow. Unless you violate the back ring badly or something, it shouldn't need the rawhide. There's been a pile of selfbows came out of that log so far.

[mitchman]

good thanks again.   im going to leave some of the brown stuff on to make some cool camo.

sound good.