Hard to dry woods

[osage outlaw]

guys very intreasting  i just remberd a couple years ago a guy wrote a artical about the salt water way i cannot rember if it was in p a or trade world im gonna have a look thru back issues and see if i can find it  i think it d be some good readin for us who are intreasted in it if anyone knows chime in brock

I remember that article.  It was in PA mag I think.  I have it at home.  If no one else finds it first, I will look for it tomorrow.

[crooketarrow]

  Puting staves in water dose simply one thing. I slows down mosture leaveing the wood. Thus stops crying cracks. Just as if you seal the whole stave(bow) as you do now. Indains did this because they had nothing to seal the bow with as I dryed. Water was there and they use what was avalable and it slowed down mouture loss. I'm sure if they had sulach or paint,etc they'ed had used that.

[Pappy]

Here we go Eddie.
   Pappy

[George Tsoukalas]

I agree with Marc and JW. The sap is on the cambium layer (xylem and phloem) which we call the inner bark which comes off with the inner bark provided you cut the wood during the growing season. I don't let water near my staves. Jawge

[crooketarrow]

  Me either GEORGE.

[Pat B]

I have heard for years this soaking method removes the resins and replaces them with water. The water disapates quicker than the resins so the stave dries faster and more evenly. For me, I want all the resins, etc to remain in the wood to strengthen the wood as the resins solidify. Once these resins have solidified I think then the wood is "seasoned" or "cured" making it a more stable medium to work with.
  I also think that seasoning wood in salt water would add salt to the wood making it more susceptable to attracting moisture. Blackbeard Island off he coast of GA was aquired by the US Government in the hey days of wooden ships because of the live oak trees that were there. The natural shapes of these tree trunks and limbs were used for the portion of the ships skelaton. These "timbers" were cut to shape, joints were cut and holes drilled then the timbers were buried in the salt marshes for a year or more. When these timbers were removed from the marshes they had mineralied making them too hard to work. That is why all of the cuting, drilling, etc was done ahead of time. This worked great for ship building but I don't think it would be appropriate for bow building. A bow has to flex over and over again and has to be able to recover at the same rate each time it is bent.

[Justin Snyder]

I agree with Marc and JW. The sap is on the cambium layer (xylem and phloem) which we call the inner bark which comes off with the inner bark provided you cut the wood during the growing season. I don't let water near my staves. Jawge

Good enough for me George.

It is true that the sap wood is shrinking because it is drying faster than the inner wood, thus causing it to check. I don't see how adding more water to the inner wood is the solution, I think it is wiser to slow the water loss from the sapwood.

Im not convinced that the water isn't going to cause mildew issues. It doesn't take long for wood to be useless if left in water, try making a bow from a piece of driftwood some time. I suspect that if the wood is destroyed within months, there is damage being done within days. Regardless it isn't necessary since we know you can seal the ends and back and solve the issue.

[vinemaplebows]

           Interesting replies...really like the links. Jack, although I personally love drawn out debates, I think your links and others have put this issue to rest, as we would be debating opinion from this point on. I was hoping for more first hand expirience from those that tried it. I am sure that there would be places because of climate to ones piticular home areas that would possibly effect positive, or negative results in the drying process if "water treated".

Please keep in mind I am refering to specific woods, NOT all woods. I would not do this to woods most people NORMALLY use in bow making, ONLY hard to dry woods that tend to crack...like fruit, and the others that I listed in the beginning of this thread.

Keep in mind that If Marc's heat treating method was not tried by Marc it would not have became a tried, and true method.

Pappy....


Brian

[RBLusthaus]

Justin

I think submerged wood does not decay due to a lack of oxygen and that is why drift wood ends up on shore rotten - as it has been floating and exposed to both the water and air simultaneously - which is the proper environ for rot.   

I do not think submerging wood will aid in its drying - it will keep wood fresher though - and I know of canoe builders who purposely submerge cedar to keep it "green" for the splitting and rib bending that they are planning as green wood bends and splits easier than dried.

Russ