One ring left, what tool?

[k-hat]

Alright folks, I've chased away 7 or 8 rings of worthless wood on this here hackberry stave (I know . . .).  Determined to make her work, and these layers look to have a great deal of integrity so i'm hopeful. 

My question is, when you get down to the last ring above the one you want for your back, do you continue with draw knife (mine's not too sharp, trust me), or switch to something lighter?  Don't have any formal scrapers.  here's the pic, goin for the 1/8" thick ring with the arra on it:)



Appreciate any input!!

[osage outlaw]

Never chased a ring on hackberry, but on osage, I use the draw knife for all of the ring chasing.  I stop when I get to the spring growth layer and then sand that off.  If you need something a little more precise to chase your ring and you don't have a scraper, take apart a pair of scissors and use half to scrape.  The point is great to use around pin knots.

[Badger]

Sometimes different woods like different tools. On osage I use a not so sharp draw knife. Elm which is similar to hackberry the way it works I sharpen up my draw knife, I may even use a spoke shave along with a rasp and scraper. Hackberry is slightly soft so cuts easy but can also gough si I take it slow as I approach the final ring. Steve

[SA]

i've only chased rings on one hackberry stave and it was a pain , i used a  drawknife all the way (thats all i use to chase rings)anyway i'm  kinda lazy and would   probably stop with that ring because it looks good to me

[mspink]

Ive chased rings in about everything i have tried from red cedar to osage using a curved draw knife and a pocket knife. When I get close to through on the last ring I turn my draw knife at a 90 to the wood back and slow way down. Seems to work for me.

[soy]

Looks like a thin early ring on that one but id use the draw knife to the consistency difference and than (personally I use a pocket knife )or the draw knife @a90and go inch by inch SLOWLY imho
If u mess up the next one looks more forgiving.

[k-hat]

The ring i'm shooting for is the thick late ring under that thin early ring.  My arra's a little off

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I started on what i thought was the last ring this morning and turns out i actually have 2 rings to chase away (top was very thin).  I'll keep your tips in mind while i'm doing these last two, using the top for practice, and believe me, I'm going SLOW!! 

Thanks again!

[Eric Garza]

I approach ring chasing a lot like osage outlaw. I use a very sharp drawknife to get through to the early wood above the ring I want, then use a scraper to remove the early wood yielding a clean, unblemished back. There are a lot of tools you could use in place of a cabinet scraper. Scissors are one, a sharp knife edge is another, you could even file the side of a large spoon to make it square and the edges hard and make that work.

[Alpinbogen]

Ditto on Eric's approach.  You can turn your drawknife around to use as a scraper.

[HoBow]

I've never had much luck chasing very tight rings with a drawknife- am I alone?  I try to clean it up best I can with a draw knife then spend time with a scraper.  Do some of you chase staves to single rings with a drawknife regardless of how tight the rings are?

[k-hat]

I tried the scraper and draw knife on this one, wound up having the most luck with the draw knife.  Mines dull toward one end, sharper on the other.  So i'd use the sharp to remove a lot of material, then zero in with the dull end, even turning it over and holding at 90 degrees for scraping off the remnants of the early growth.  (see thread  http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,29796.0.html ) 

However, for finer work, the scraper was more effective for example in small shallow dips in the back where the draw knife was too big to get in there.   I think my chasing worked out pretty well, we'll see what others say.  I'm still very new at this part of the craft.

[George Tsoukalas]

I use a sharp drawknife and a Swedish pushknife to remove most of the wood and then use shavehooks to finish. I like the curved one and imagine a curved scraper will work too. Jawge

[soy]

I seen what u were going for, I was just saying a thicker early ring gives u a larger margin for error but u made it so congratulations!!!it is a satisfying endeavor when u succeeded 

[JW_Halverson]

Chasing rings on hackberry is like trying to get a good look at the back of your head without using a mirror!  It would be easier to kiss the outside of your elbow!

It's a ring diffuse wood, like maple, right?  I'd not worry about hitting a growth ring, but just de-crown it slightly and back with light rawhide.  I love hackberry.  Some of my favorite shooters were made from hackberry.  I especially love the smell of it, reminds me of hot buttered popcorn for some reason.

Good luck!

[k-hat]

Thanks soy, there is definitely some satisfaction!  (and i reread your first post and see i misunderstood, i see what you're saying now, and understand better after having done it!)

JW:  Guess it would've been like that in the outer rings, but as deep as i had to go, the rings got nice and thick.  the early growth is thinner than in osage, for example, so i found myself accidentally digging into the underlying ring when i was practicing.  I could really tell when i was getting to the good wood when it started shaving/peeling instead of chipping off.  Once there, i think anyone accomplished in ring-chasing could have had a pristine back in no time (i was quite a bit slower!). 

As far as decrowning, there's something else I haven't done!   

Thanks again fellas