So this past weekend I went out to some land that my across-the-street neighbor owns, where there's a nifty little dried creek bed with tons of non-GA-pines growing very tall and straight to make up for that they have a 4ft disadvantage being lower than the rest. They break upward toward the sunlight with eagerness.
Descending into the creek bed, I noticed a fairly large Hickory tree to my right that seemed to stand out among the rest. As I neared it, to my dismay, I realized it was riddled top to bottom with woodpecker holes. Crestfallen, I started moving on past it when I noticed it's offspring, roughly half its height and width, standing patiently behind it. Equipped with naught but a hatchet, a small hand saw, and a hunting knife, I spent the next 45 minutes sawing and hacking it to the ground, then another 30 minutes cutting it down into a 9ft+/- log. I carried it on my back all the way to my truck, then drove it home.
In the hot heat of the summer, all it took was a screwdriver and some elbow grease to break the bark off it, which was a great relief.
There I noted two things.
1. There is a hole in the bottom of the log where I'm pretty sure ants have bored up into it, and I REALLY hope all that work wasn't for nothing, and I'll be able to work around or through it.
2. I'd consider myself ignorant in this subject, but I had imagined the first ring immediately under the bark/phlegm/cambium to be smooth and flat, as it's used as a single-ring for the back of the bow. The wood underneath the bark on this tree, while smooth, is ripply.
Am I supposed to smooth it out?
Will it work as ripply as it is?
Should I just work down to the next ring?
Should I just set the damned thing on fire and cut my losses?
I appreciate any and all input.
