So I've been working with a juniper stave and usually I don't have trouble with heat straightening and bending. I am able to shape the wood but for whatever reason I sometimes see these small hairline longitudinal cracks appear in one area of the same limb, usually on the belly but someimes also on the back. Luckily they are very shallow and can be scraped away. They however keep reappearing, and seem to have reappeared especially now that I've been using steam to shape the bow. I would not be concerned for the ones on the belly but the one on the back keeeps reappearing and I have to scrape it away, and if I keep doing this, it will create an uneven back. I am going to back this bow with 2 - 3 layers of sinew fyi, so I could put extra sinew there, but I am not sure......
Anyone else seen this issue with small shallow hairline cracks appearing after heat/steam? The wood was cut back in october but has been shaped for more than a month so I definitely don't think it is still green and that these somehow are checks.
Is this something to be worried about?