Humidity...

[medicinewheel]

Well, Tuesday I broke the little elm recurve I was working on, yesterday I broke an almost finished hickory backed hickory flatbow. Not the best week I had in bowbuilding.
The only reason why the latter one broke that I can possibly imagine was too low a moisture contend. Humidity's been down to 35% for a few days now. The bow broke unmotivatedly right through the middle of the lower limb, flawless pieces of wood glued together, no splinter had lifted, no glueline had failed, draw weight was <40# at 22", I pulled a little further, felt a sudden stacking and baaang it went. I could not even identify where the failure had started.
I know it's been discussed before, but I never actually considered it to be a problem:
What's the lowest possible humidity for building bows?
How do you guys deal with low humidity?

[sailordad]

Frank sorry to hear of your misfortune

i live in minnesota,i believe your climte and mine are pretty much the same
its winter here now,our humidity is usually between the 25-35% area at this time of year
i am currently working on a hick and a hhb bow,i do my work in my basement.
the humidty down stairs is a constant 35% this time of year(i keep my dehumidifier set at that  )
i have yet to have one break for other than bad tillering on my part/pushing it to far to fast
but i have heard of others having issues when the humidity drops this far
jm2cw

[Justin Snyder]

If that is the case, I would never build a bow, our humidity averages around 23% most of the summer, and it isn't unusual to see 6%. It usually takes a lot more than that to cause problems, especially for hickory. Hickory does well down to about 5-6% moisture content where most others would break.

[chuckp]

I thought hickory strives on low humidity.

[medicinewheel]

Than I really have no idea what happened; the tiller looked good and had not caused any problem so far, the bow was exercised well, the bow was not really stressed at that draw weight and pull considering it was 69" NTN.
Who knows...
Thanks for your replies!

[artcher1]

Does sound like your bows were too dry. Was that 35% R/H where the bows were kept? Do you have a temp/humidity monitor? Once you start monitoring these conditions you will notice that well tillered bows magically quit breaking......Art

[artcher1]

Yep, I read Justin's reply.  And I understand that 23% R/H =about 5% MC and 6% R/H = about 1 1/2% MC in wood. My hat's off to him for building anything in those conditions. Perhaps he has some tips he could share with us..........Art

[mullet]

 Soak it in Buffalo urine and salt water to bring the moisture up a little.

[NTD]

Yep, I read Justin's reply.  And I understand that 23% R/H =about 5% MC and 6% R/H = about 1 1/2% MC in wood. My hat's off to him for building anything in those conditions. Perhaps he has some tips he could share with us..........Art

I don't have any pointers myself but I've been keeping my wood in my house until I build bows from it and My house is single digit RH year round....Got me.....

[Justin Snyder]

Yep, I read Justin's reply.  And I understand that 23% R/H =about 5% MC and 6% R/H = about 1 1/2% MC in wood. My hat's off to him for building anything in those conditions. Perhaps he has some tips he could share with us..........Art

I don't have any pointers myself but I've been keeping my wood in my house until I build bows from it and My house is single digit RH year round....Got me.....

My biggest tip is don't get attached until it is finished.
I keep a lot of my wood in the house also. Osage, Ipe and Hickory are fine if kept out of direct sunlight. If you store them very long in direct sunlight they will dry to much and explode.  Stay away from Yew when it is super dry, it is not forgiving at all.

[HoBow]

Now that's some prime info Eddie

[George Tsoukalas]

I don't think that's likely. That's the way it goes. Jawge

[Pat B]

The only time I have seen hickory break clean across the back is when fungi had set it. I have seen it bend almost in half or splinter badly but never a clean break.

[Keenan]

 Sorry for your loss Frank.  I've often wondered about the same scenarios as we live in a high desert region and often have very low humidity. We also have a wood stove for our main heat. I've never had a problem with it but we have a couple big aquariums in our house and I wonder if that keeps the moister enough in the house.

[Pappy]

I'm with Pat,even tho the wood looked good,I have had Hickory do that,but never had a problem with getting Hickory to dry. Sorry It happens. 2 in a row is bad for sure,I once broke 3 in a matter of hours,made me want to quit  but I didn't.
   Pappy