Ring porous bellies

[DC]

When you are scraping the belly of BL or Osage how do you deal with the tendency of the wood to "step" down when you hit the early layer? A scraper just seems to make it worse.

[Ricardovanleeuwen]

Dont have experience with those Woods but sandpaper    is the first thing that Comes up in me

[BowEd]

DC....Scrape at an angle across with scraper or use a sanding block.

[bownarra]

I don't use a scraper much on osage for that reason IF I am keeping the belly dead flat. A good bastard or 2nd cut file is a much better option in my opinion. As suggested 60grit sandpaper on a block will also work when getting closer to final tiller.
I have come to prefer a mildly rounded belly on osage then these things aren't as much of an issue. The slight crown has little to no effect on performance, the mildly lower compression resistance offset by the lighter profile.
Same applies down the fades.

[DC]

Thanks, I'll try the diagonal. Since I'm using BL I thought I should keep the belly as flat as I can. So far the "step" is only a few inches from the tips but as I reduce the weight it's going to creep further out into the limb.

[PatM]

 Sanding block.   

[DC]

OK, another sort of related question. Since BL rings can be so thick this bow will have two late wood rings, maybe an early ring and some remains of the third late wood ring. Would it be wise to alter the design so that the belly is all in the one late wood ring? The bow is a 68" pyramid, 1 7/8" at the fades and 3/8" at the tips. Right now I'm at 40#@20" and I'm breaking though the remains of the third ring on one limb. l'm thinking that if I took it all down to two late rings I would probably be a little under weight but I've got 68", I could pike it and still keep the 28" DL. Is it worth the trouble to get on belly ring? I tend to think too much when I'm tillering and this being my second BL bow I'm a little concerned about it's tendency to chrysal.

[PatM]

A layer of earlywood is going to do nothing for the draw weight.  You might as well sand it off.

[willie]

when I need to use sandpaper, I buy  a fabric backed power sander belt cut it into 2 or 3   24" long strips to mount on a slat

[DC]

What are your thoughts on very thin bits of late wood sitting on top of that early wood? It's crossing my mind that this is where BL got a rep for chrysals. A thin layer of late wood sitting on early wood may chrysal quite easily. Although Osage is built the same and it doesn't have the same rep.

[simson]

This is what I do for getting super smooth bellies:
In the last stadium of tillering gut some layers of thinned shellac (with alc.) on and let it dry. This fills the pores in the early wood and you have a homogenous material. 
My scrapers (and all my tools) are razor sharp, so it allows to scrape with very little pressure.
Change the angle of the scraper with every scrape.
Next use net grit with a sanding block of flexibel rubber or cork (allows to ride over humps and dumps)
Last use sanding linnen (no sandpaper). Buy the best you can get - much easier to work, and it last much longer than the cheap junk.

For BL:
I have seen frets on BL bellies everywhere - it is a thing of careful tillereing IMO.