Author Topic: Dark Streaks in Ipe - Weak spots/Damage?  (Read 970 times)

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Dark Streaks in Ipe - Weak spots/Damage?
« on: September 19, 2020, 09:05:10 am »
Hi Folks, was recently tillering a Maple backed Ipe trilam, 50#@28", 1,1/4" wide - everything was peachy, My tiller (i believed) was spot on, and then I noticed a chrysal  >:( . The bottom limb, 8 inches out of the fade, but it was right in the middle of some large dark streaks that ran through my board.  This was the first time one of the dark streaks was in a section of working limb, I hadn't really thought about it before.  I decided to bust out the random orbit sander and sand down the limbs evenly until the chrysal dissapeared, and maybe I'd get a 20# bow out of it.  Anyways, as I got to the end of the chysal - there was a hole! As if someone had pushed a thumbtack in to the wood and the the wood healed over it - The hole was not visible from either side of the board (approx 1/4" thick lam) when I glued it together.  So I filled the hole with epoxy and am going to try to tiller it out now -
Basically what I'm asking - has anyone else noticed this with darker streaks on Ipe?  Is that a sign of injury? And I should avoid placing those parts in working limb areas? That's the basic assumption I'm working with now. 

Offline Pat B

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Re: Dark Streaks in Ipe - Weak spots/Damage?
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2020, 11:25:52 am »
I made a hickory backed ipe ELB style bow that fretted almost all the way through the ipe. The ipe I used was from years ago and the color was consistent.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC