Need a short lesson on growth rings and chasing a single ring for Osage

[jrmeza]

Hey there PA, I have been busy with work and school so I haven't been practicing my bowyering lately, but fortunately today I got a moment to get started on my 2nd osage bow. Obviously I ran into a small road block.

I really want this bow to have no backing, so I want the back to be perfect (unlike my first osage). But I just CAN'T get it. I took off the sapwood, and everytime I think I find that solid growth ring, I start chasing it and it splits into many different levels as I am chasing it. To my mind makes me think that I didn't go low enough where I started and as I am chasing this ring, I am uncovering different layers as I go. But I am not sure if this is the reason. Here are some pictures to show you what I am seeing.



Are these vertical lines caused because the growth rings are just really thin?
Where do you start chasing your ring? I had no choice but to start in the middle of the log because that was where the deepest grub burrow was.
Or is this what one would call "high crown"? I think I am using that term right 

TL;DR what is the best way to determine which of these rings to flesh out? because it's hard for me to tell which one is the lowest. to my eyes it seems  like the layers leading to the edge of the stave are lower, like walking down a stair case, but I am not too sure

Side note: since I am putting this on pause for the day, I sealed the back with ducktape! anyone ever do that for a quick and easy seal instead of whipping out the wood glue or spray on finish?

[PatM]

You're dramatically cutting into the edges. It looks like you're not sure at all what you are looking for.

[JW_Halverson]

No problem, come on over and we'll grill some venison steaks and chase up your ring!

Lay your drawknife down and get something a little lighter, like an old folding knife or a cabinet scraper. Do you see those lighter colored lines?  Good.  Scrape away on the edge of one of those lighter lines and pay attention to to where it "moves".  As you scrape away wood, it will head toward one end of the stave or the other. 

Say for instance it is moving to the right.  That means the growthring you are trying to remove is on the right hand.  You can pick up the draw knife and think of it now as a scalpel and you are trying to lightly shave off JUST that one growthring.  Be surgical...be content with snaller and lighter bites of wood.  And if you are scraping along with the draw knife and there are light lines where you just took off wood, you went thru a growth ring. 

Clear as mud?

[huisme]

Here's part of a buildalong. It's locust, but it's almost the same thing. Osage has torn out on me more so like jaydub says take off little bits of wood at a time.

http://imgur.com/a/f0JlS

[Danzn Bar]

That looks like very thin rings, which also can make it tough to chase with a draw knife. 
DBar

[jrmeza]

Thanks a lot guys so it seems the verdict is really thin rings, clusmy new guy hands, so just put the draw knife down for a bit.

btw Huisme, you made me very glad that I am not working with locust because I new guy like me would not have even noticed the difference in rings. With osage, the contrast between early and late wood is so great that I would have to be blind not to know I'm doing something wrong 

[Joec123able]

It's so difficult to explain how to chase a ring through text. But once you understand what you're looking for it becomes easy. There's a video by clay Hayes on YouTube called making a self bow part 1 and he explains and shows how to chase a ring pretty good

[SLIMBOB]

On the last pic.... there is a ring (light colored wood) that runs due east and then does a "U-Turn and heads due west.  The light wood does a "U-Turn and you can follow it around.  Take a marker and follow that light wood as far as you can follow it, beginning to end.  Now go to the ring just outside of that ring (there should not be a ring inside of it as you are taking off the top ring on the stave (or at least he top ring on that section of the stave).  Mark the next light colored band end to end.  That is the next ring that must come off.  Go to the one outside of that and mark it end to end.  Now take your knife and slowly take the first ring off you marked, only down to the next ring, no further.  The light colored wood is the early wood that sits on top of each ring.  It feels different than the late wood.  Knife away the ring only until you hit that early wood.  Scrape it off gently when you get to it, until you have the late wood beneath it exposed.  do this until you have that ring removed for the entire length of the stave.  Now go to the second ring you marked and repeat.  Now the third, end to end.  Mark each one so that you can identify where the edges of it are and don't go any wider than your marks.  These rings will more than likely be somewhat concentric on this, so start peeling the center one away.  Move one ring "outward" each time.  Soon, you will see fewer white bands.  You want to get to zero.  If you get lost, stop and take a pic and post it.

[huisme]

Thanks a lot guys so it seems the verdict is really thin rings, clusmy new guy hands, so just put the draw knife down for a bit.

btw Huisme, you made me very glad that I am not working with locust because I new guy like me would not have even noticed the difference in rings. With osage, the contrast between early and late wood is so great that I would have to be blind not to know I'm doing something wrong 

You've just got to put the draw knife in the crunchy parts and lift away the solid parts a little at a time. Thin rings make it easy to hit the wrong crunchy part in both woods

[jrmeza]

I got it guys! After I got all of y'alls advice, I went back at it and I chased that dern ring! Which brings me to one more question, the occasional "oops" does happen, when it does, and its relatively small, do you start all over and go another ring down? Or do most bows have 1 or 2 minor breeches in the ring? (one of them I think I can get in the handle)

Thanks again for all the help guys, y'all are the best

[huisme]

I'd go down another ring, scraping if it's a thin ring.

[Fred Arnold]

Start on one end and work towards the handle doing one ring at a time as viewed from the end until you get the feel and eye for it. Thar will make your work much more enjoyable and productive.

Look at the bottom stave with the fresh cut end and imagine taking it down to the first solid ring that you see on the right side of the stave.

[osage outlaw]

Check out the Ferret's build a long.  I printed it out and followed it page by page on my first couple of bows.  It has some good info on chasing rings.

http://peteward.com/Articles/Ferret.osage.buildalong1.htm

[lebhuntfish]

You might also check out boarrior bows on YouTube. He has a few really good videos on making an Osage bow. He also shows the ring chasing really well.
Slimbob has you heading the right way. Patrick

[SLIMBOB]

You asked about the oop's on the back.  Your best advice is to have a flawless back ring.  No oop's.  If you don't have that I would suggest going down one more ring and making it perfect.  A flaw in the back may never cause a problem, or it may split wide open at 26 inches, just when you were thinking you had it nearly finished.  All that work for naught.  You will kick yourself when that happens knowing that you could have avoided the heart break by simply chasing just one more ring early on and getting it right.