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Where to cut yew
tannhillman:
No, I have been working with wood for a long time. .no confusion, the thin layer between the sapwood and the bark is the cambium! Have a look at the pics that I uploaded above, they both show the cambium layer, as does the document I attached to an earlier message.
See Science Dictionary definition below:-
cambium (kām'bē-əm) Pronunciation Key
Plural cambiums or cambia
A cylindrical layer of tissue in the stems and roots of many seed-bearing plants, consisting of cells that divide rapidly to form new layers of tissue. Cambium is a kind of meristem and is most active in woody plants, where it lies between the bark and wood of the stem.
PatM:
So what happens as the tree actually lays down that yearly growth ring? Look at the end profile of the log and look at each growth ring. If you work down a single growth ring perfectly, is there cambium on that layer as well?
Your photo above also shows "dry rot" which doesn't actually exist. ;)
tannhillman:
The cambium is a layer between the inner bark and the first growth ring. If you season a log with the bark on then the cambium comes off with the bark when you remove it, and you are probably not aware of it (which is what I think is causing the confusion here as almost everyone makes their bows from seasoned staves with the bark on. However, if you peel off the bark on a freshly cut log then the cambium stays behind (as shown in the pic above). There is only one layer of cambium so if you remove a growth ring there will be not be any cambium, no.
I unploaded the photo to show the the position of the cambium on a log, the 'dry rot', which is a term that is still commonly used, even though it tends to be called 'brown rot' today, is not relevant to the point I'm making about cambium.
The majority of the MR bows have the cambium on, demonstrating that the bark was removed prior to seasoning, which makes complete sense as in those days they did not have bench saws to cut up timber as we do today, so logs were split by hand, and it is much harder to split season logs so they would have ben split when fresh.
PatM:
Not sure why you think it only comes off when seasoned versus when it is freshly peeled. Clearly it is not an attached layer.
It may be parted somewhat when a log is freshly peeled but the majority of it is going to be on the inside of the bark rather than the outside of the actual wood.
I have many freshly peeled elm logs and I can assure you that there is nothing but wood on the outside when the sap is running.
If the sap is not running the cambium is stuck about the same as tape but it still comes off down to the wood.
tannhillman:
I didn't say that it 'only comes off when seasoned versus when it is freshly peeled' ..I said that if you peel the bark off a freshly cut log then the cambium is left behind, whereas if you fully season a log with the bark on then it is virtually impossible to removed the bark without removing the cambium as well, (you certainly wont leave the cambium fully intact). That is my experience having done both methods ! I think that's enough said on the subject. Cheesrs :)
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