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Advice on ash stave suitability?

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Ruddy Darter:
I got this ash stave with has tight growth rings and have read that's not a good thing, I thought I'd post some pics after I've roughed it down and squared it up and was hoping for some advice on its suitability for 100 sort of draw weight or if I'll be wasting my time. I got 36mm x 30mm at the centre and roughly 73" ntn. I had to remove top two growth rings because of bug activity and some spalting at the ends which is now mostly removed.
I'd appreciate any advice.

R.D.

peacefullymadewarbows:
The only thing spooking me a bit is that it's 73" long. With big ringed ash that'd be no problem for 100#. But those thin rings would like a bit more length BUT ash is very good in tension. I'd say a light belly toasting and a round arc tiller are worth a shot for 100#. Keep your cross section rectangular with rounded corners for stress distribution. You can also burnish the back to add a bit reassurance in tension. I've only done it on cedar and yew but the science works on all wood in theory. I think Dean Torges has positive experience with it on osage. Hope this helps.

Ruddy Darter:
OK, thank you peacefullymadewarbows, I'll give it a shot then. I may settle for  a 30" draw if I can get away with it and may also downsize some as not to squander the chance of a lighter Elb of sorts.

 R.D.

Del the cat:
I'm sceptical that burnishing achieves anything on wood.

Ah just found a technical journal article on the subject...
It does increase the hardness but unfortunately they don't consider the tension properties.
I only skim read the article.
Maybe it is worth study, maybe it implies that burnishing the belly would be of more value especially as woods are generally better in tension anyway?!
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0954406216641711
Del

peacefullymadewarbows:
Thank you for that article Del. It made me think I might try some samples of sapwood that were directly adjacent to each other in a stave and make them the exact same dimensions and burnish one and leave the other alone and do bend tests. Although at the very least it sounds like burnishing can protect from denting on the back of a bow via making it harder. Kinda like pre-denting the whole bow back already.

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