Is this hophornbeam

[dylanholderman]

agreed, surface under the bark is your back. also it's probably near impossible to chase a ring on HHB it has a defused grain like maple.

[gumboman]

Thanks for the input. One other thing. The staves have quite a lot of prop twist. More than I have dealt with in the past. Can anyone advise what would be the maximum amount of prop twist a stave can have in order to make a bow before you consider it firewood only? 15 degrees? 30 degrees? 45 degrees?

Thanks

[PatM]

I see a pretty distinct line but it's of no consequence.  You're not working gown to an inner ring.