Thanks for the input guys. I figured it would need backed. Now to get some rawhide.
But it was a two part stupid on my part why I didn't follow the snaky portion. Because of the extremely fine grain I drawknifed it down so that the back was within a couple growth rings. Then roughed out the profile so I'd have less area to try chasing. Usually I can make this work out pretty good, but not this time. I ended up going down about 1/4" from where I started because I kept busting through layers. Even a dull scraper would go through 2-4 layers if I wasn't careful. By the time I got where I decided to stop the grain wandered a bit more than I started with. I think I chased through about 12-15 rings in that 1/4". I still didn't get deep enough to get to just one ring in that dark area. From what I can tell, there are several rings showing in that area, but it's hard for me to tell
Then I rushed when I tapered the outer third down to a 3/8" tip. I just penciled a straight line and rasped it flat. Pretty much trying to rush through getting it made and making mistakes I should know better than to do.
I'll take any more tips anyone wants to give.
Thanks,
Kyle