Help with a hickory stave

[bentstick54]

I was gifted a hickory stave from a friend. He cut the tree in Missouri, split the staves, and peeled the bark off last summer, sealed the back and ends immediately. I don’t know what variety of hickory, but it’s got some kind of strange looking spots on it. He text me tonight and said he started working on a stave from the same tree, and these spots all hollow underneath.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of these. What might have caused them? Bugs, maybe some type of disease?

[Pat B]

If those knots are unviolated on the back you should be OK. Can you see these knots from the belly side?

[bentstick54]

No Pat. The stave is still about 2” or2-1/2” thick. It has not been thinned down yet. If I take my finger nail and try to push on them they feel solid, but my friend said he tried one that had two of these and they both were hollow under them. So I didn’t know wether to gamble it, or try to chase a ring and get below them. Then what would be the chances of finding more deeper in the stave?

[Yooper Bowyer]

That bump will go through quite a few rings.  IMO that looks more like maple, but I can't tell.  Are you sure it's hickory?

[superdav95]

 Bent stick. 

That is the first time I’ve seen this on hickory.  I wonder if it’s a big hole that has grown over.  I wouldn’t chase a ring if it was me.  I’d gamble it and see if you get a bow out of it.  Where along the stave is this anomaly?  If towards the handle section and it’s hollow underneath you might still be ok.  I’ve had surprises with wood that looked pristine only to find out a hidden problem later on in tiller.  So you might as well go for it and see.  Hickory is tuff bow wood really and can take a lot of stress.  I think as you start to work into shape and get to floor tiller you may have better idea.  The sealer on the back it looks fairly tan or dark.  Maybe lighting perhaps.  Best of luck on your build. 

Cheers

[Eric Krewson]

I have cut hickory with the same anomalies, no big deal, just the way some hickory grows. I just left them alone.

[Pat B]

Once you reduce the belly, say at floor tiller stage, post more pics so we can make educated decisions to help you out.

[gutpile]

I've never seen hickory that color.. even the heartwood is more of a purplish brown .. sapwood is white.. I've also never run into that.. hickory is a very hardwood.. especially when dry..gut

[rps3]

I bought amber colored shellac one time that looked that color. Maybe that's why the color doesn't look like hickory.

[TimBo]

I think it is shellac.  He said the back is sealed, and you can see some drip spots.

[bentstick54]

The color is due to the sealer put on the back of the stave. I did go downstairs and looked at bathe belly side of the stave and found some there that had been sawed through. They have something solid in them, but also some small hollow spots at the ends? So even if I were to try to get below the ones that are visible on the back of the bow now, I might run into more in the middle of the stave? The ones that are on the surface now will fall mid limb, and close to center of the width? Here’s some photos of the ones on the belly side. I chiseled off the wood on the side of one that was close to the edge to try to get a better feel for what was inside.

[bentstick54]

Photos

[Yooper Bowyer]

Whelp, it's hickory alright. 
Looks useable, just will need extra mass there.

[Pat B]

I wouldn't touch the back. You have a pristine ring there, you can't make a better one. Knots on the belly aren't any where as critical as on the back. I'd say keep on reducing the belly. If there are voids there there are ways to deal with that. Work on this stave like there are no problems. When you get into the bending stage give us another look. Hickory is one of our toughest bow woods.

[BowEd]

I personally hav'nt seen that stuff on my hickory here but it's always possible.I don't think it's a bug.Maybe a fungus or something??Most all of it is shagbark.I think on yours it was on the tree before harvesting it.
Most hickory here that I burn in the stove standing dead is killed by a bore.A person can see the holes through the bark.Less and less of them though as time goes on since I burn wood for heat.
I've seen post holes into staves on hickory before,and that's a very very fine hole and the fine powder from it.That was my fault.Those kind of staves will not make a bow.
Homogenous natural material is always a gamble.It's good no big expense was involved.
Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say though.See what's revealed as you get the bow closer to bending.
I would put the bow through a lot of excercise on the tillering tree before shooting it.