Wood check for the wood gurus

[Selfbowman]

See if y’all can learn me something about the lunar rings. This is some cuts off the end of a stave. Several things I want to ask about. 1 being most of the late rings there are
about 8 lunar rings to a late ring.2 Does the early rings make up the rest of the lunar cycles? 3 Does the early ring happen when the tree goes dormant? That’s it for now.

[Selfbowman]

Pic

[Pat B]

If I'm not mistaken...the rings are laid down from the bottom up(or inside out) so the early rings are actually the last rings laid down as the growing season evolves. The lunar rings are only indications of the yearly growth from month to month.

[Bob Barnes]

Arvin, I'm not smart like the other guys that help you, but the 'lunar rings' really messed me up a few years ago... I bought several 'awesome' osage staves at OJam a few years ago, and i think you was there that year.  They rings were over 1/4" thick!  When I started working the back, it was like thin clouds of spring growth mixed ll in with the summer growth...and very hard for me to follow since the 'punky' spring rings were very close together.  They were what I think you may be calling lunar rings... I had never worked so hard to chase a ring.  I later found out that it was black locust...and that the thin rings were typical.  Your picture doesn't look like the normal osage rings that you use.

[Selfbowman]

Yes this is typical of the Osage I use but this stave Varys In growth ring thickness from one end to the other. Not my favorite stave but will work to make a good bow. Usually one end of the bow ends up thicker. Maybe some one can shed some light on that.maybe additional early ting mass will require more thickness.

[George Tsoukalas]

After I wake up from  my nap, I'll check to see what Tim Baker says in TBB 1 about wood and lunar rings. Tim has forgotten more than I ever will know.

I've heard of lunar rings but the internet knows nothing about them and my knowledge is deficient. I am not on board with the idea that the moon affects wood so...

I never worry about late wood and early wood ratios. If a stave has what I feel is too much early wood I go wider. The bows with an excess of early wood turned out fine...just a little wider. After all I can't change the ratio. Osage does not grow on trees in NH so I adapt.

Jawge

[Badger]

My understanding of lunar rings might be completely wrong as I never paid much attention to them. But as I understand it from what I read many moons ago is that the moon affects groundwater similar to the way it affects tides. If the water line is very close to the root system it will rise up with the full moon and it will show in the ring growth, or something like that anyway.

[Pat B]

Arvin I'd say the thicker end of the stave is probably from the root end of the tree, the bottom as it camo out of the tree. If you think about a tree trunk, it tapers, sometimes more than others, towards the crown. With the lower section thicker I'd guess the growth rings are wider at the bottom then the top.
 I doubt if the lunar rings affect the viability of the growth ring. If by chance they are visible on the back(I've never noticed) and are somewhat violated you could sand them smooth so their edged and feathered evenly. If still in doubt, rawhide back it.

[Selfbowman]

Pat  I’ve had some good bows from wood like is shown in the picture where the lunar rings are more visable . Was curious about the eight or so rings in the late ring. Thinking where is the other four.🤠 If I understood you right that would be in the early ring stage in the spring. Interesting how god made nature.

[simk]

Arvin, funny thing is, I lately had my first encounter with lunar rings...chased a ring, cleaned the back, then - in one spot - had the impression I had left an insula of the upper ring at a small wiggle. Ok, start scraping and sanding again. Could,t scrape it away, instaed the insula became bigger and bigger  it was then when I enganged my brain and rememberd I heard something ab out lunar rings long time ago....and here they were. lol.

The bow was nearly finished and I did not have enough thickness to chase another ring. I decideed to somehow chase the lunar rings and the bow came out fine with only half a ring on the back.

I dont think the lunar rings affect quality of the wood as its just a very small amount of early wood. If you count 8 lunar rings you mus have e very long growth period where you live, at least 8 months. mine only show 3 to 4. I usually don believe a lot in the effects of the moon but in this case there must be something  my guess was the lunar ring either develop when its full moon or empty moon, I dont know.

I at this occasion tested my kids microscope and checked the osage. I was particularly interested in the early wood which was very enlighting. In contrary to ash - on which the early wood looks absolutely frightening - the pores of  the early wood of osage look filled with some white crystal stuff. I think that's what makes the specific, crispy noise when when chasing an osage ring.

cheers

[Selfbowman]

Cool I don’t have a microscope.my piece of Osage that I showed came from Mo. . I think maybe the  lunar rings show up while the leaves are on the tree. .

[RyanY]

Very cool, simk. Thanks for sharing those images.