Osage Ring Chasing ?

[Stick Bender]

Hi guys just started chasing a ring on my first osage stave I'm going to use ,been practice on a not so good one before this, so it's time for me to solo, my question is can you use the first ring out of the sap wood ? I have herd before to go down a couple of rings but this one looks realy nice ?

[Hrothgar]

You can use the first good ring under the sapwood, some guys prefer to go down to an especially thick or even ring.

[H Rhodes]

On very thin ringed osage, you might do well to shoot for the first heartwood ring. 

[JW_Halverson]

Soy made a scrappy little scrap bow for me where the back of the bow is the growth ring in transition between orange heartwood and creamy sapwood.  Part of the ring is orange and part is a pale buttery yellow.  The FINAL arbiter on what ring you should use is whether or not that ring is chased to a fair-thee-well, flawless in execution, and has your utter faith. 

If you hate chasing rings, I can only urge you to suck it up and put on your best game face.  Screw up tiller, and you can fix it (albeit with a lower poundage bow, likely), but if you screw up that growth ring, you have scrap!  I'm lucky that way....I LOOOOVE chasing a growthring, and the more tedious it is, the more my thoughts simply fade away and I become a spectator watching my hands slip off finer and finer curls until I am surprised to see the other end of the stave with a gorgeous growth ring laid out in front of me. 

I have seen your work on here and have been suitably impressed that you have what it takes to chase that ring!

[Badger]

  Chasing a ring is always one of the first things I teach a new bowyer. I always enjoy seeing them get into the process once they feel like they have figured it out. Enjoy the process osage is actually fun to chase rings n.

[Del the cat]

... Enjoy the process...

I think you just encapsulated the secret of making fine bows .
Del

[PEARL DRUMS]

I use the first one I can get to cleanly. Its all the same to me. Thin, thick, two down, four down, first one under the sapwood. Just give me a clean back and I'm off.

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, you can. It's a good idea especially if you are not sure you have enough heartwood. Jawge

[BowEd]

Yes once you get the hang of it you'll like it.I'm sure we've all come to the very end on the stave and violated it.I know I have in the beginning.One thing it does'nt totally matter but there is a wider ring end and a thinner ring end.The wider one is the base of your tree.I usually start at the thinner ring end,but some people start in the middle too.Don't know if that's true totally of branches but I'm assuming so.I hav'nt done that many branches.

[Stick Bender]

Ok thanks guys for all the good thoughts,your giving me cofidents for my first try thanks , this stave is only 3 weeks off the stump so the rings are softer than my practice stave ,went out & bought the makings of a steam box so I can take out the sweeping curve in this stave, I'm still in the sap wood had to stop for this week end with the sap wood still on but read some horor story's about checking,so I'm still coating it with shellac as we speak will put on total 8 . Thanks again for your help means a lot to me, your a great group.