Building a Hickory Selfbow

[Rain Bows]

All,

Thanks for the acceptance to the forum! I am starting this post per recommendations from numerous users of Leatherwall. I will be staring a hickory selfbow build this evening. My materials arrive today (Hawaii Time) and would like to post photos/questions along the way for guidance. I've shot for a long time now and certainly know what I like in a bow as far as specs and features, so technical info is what I'm seeking (ie tiller, how to obtain poundage, etc. I ordered The Bowyers Bible vol 1 along with my stave and tools from Raptor Archery. To start, any good advice you can pass on before I physically start building my first bow? Secondly, being that the Military currently has me in Hawaii, how much will the humidity effect my stave? Thanks. Appreciate the wealth of knowledge y'all so generously share.

[Rain Bows]

Also, with my Hickory Stave coming from Raptor Archery, will it come ready to be worked or does it still require drying time?

[JW_Halverson]

If you have a kitchen scale, switch it to reading in metric (grams) and weigh the wood.  Write it in pencil on the wood, wait 48 hours, weigh it again.  Any change?  If so, keep tracking the weight on the stave until it is pretty much done wobbling about up or down. 

Hickory in Hawaii is likely to be a bit sluggish.  From what I gather from secondhand information, it is rather tropical and humid in your part of the country.  Hickory has an almost fiendish love of absorbing humidity and reducing it's performance.  But so what.  It will still make a bow and when (not if, this is the military we are talking about) you get transferred to another duty station it might be really dry and the bow will suddenly become a ballistic missile launcher. 

Now, post a photo of the stave when you can and we will commence to providing you all kinds of contradictory instructions and opinions, sure to make you feel like you are back in boot camp and have done something epic stupid.

[JW_Halverson]

Trust us.  You will produce a bow. 

[Rain Bows]

Appreciate it. I'll try and get some photos of my stave up tonight.

[George Tsoukalas]

Just keep it in AC while you are working on it and when not shooting it.
My site has info.
Jawge
http://traditionalarchery101.com/

[Msturm]

Good to see ya on this forum too!

You can't go wrong with advice from George!

[loon]

Wish I had AC in my garage... it gets like a coal mine in there sometimes
And that's where I have my red oak board :\ At least it's fall..

[FilipT]

[willie]

If so, keep tracking the weight on the stave until it is pretty much done wobbling about up or down.

If you are on the wet side of the island, it might start gaining weight
or on the dry side, loosing weight

try to monitor for weight loss in an envrionment that you know has a low RH.

[gutpile]

hickory is a sponge on moisture, very hydroscoptic..reduce to floor till, get to 12 %... let sit inside for a month should do it..everytime you work it bring it back inside..never leave it outside too long...after finished seal immediately..it will make an excellent bow if treated properly....gut

[Stick Bender]

I had a  hickory bow I ruffed out earlier in the year  left it 1 in. Thick brought it inside in the a/c @53% humidity it didn't stop losing weight  for almost 4 months don't have a moister gauge for measuring wood but I'm building a simple drying box with a electric blanket sort of a drying tent & see if I can get it a little drier by weight, probably if I had floor tillered could have got away with 2 months ,I have made a hickory bow with only 1 month of drying after floor tiller but think it was still a little green  hickory can hold on to moisture in my opinion but once dry it's a great wood for bows & it's a forgiving wood for first time builder I think you will be happy with your hickory bow when your done.

[gutpile]

could be a longer dry time for sure..its a bear to get it down to 12%..I put mine in closet that has a heat vent..haha...gut

[Rain Bows]

Haven't gotten a moisture meter yet. Trying to post photos from my phone but it keeps saying they are too large. Got half of my staves bark stripped off tonight down to the white wood. It looks great! Very straight. Will keep trying to get photos up

[JW_Halverson]

You can get a cheap digital kitchen scale for as little as $20.  It weighs the entire stave all at once.  Moisture meters only read the moisture content as deep as you push the probes....basically driving nails into the wood.  The scale can also be used in the kitchen, or weighing arrows, or even weighing packages so you can estimate postage.  A moisture meter only does one thing, and not that very good of a job, in my opinion.  I have one, don't know where it is, can't be bothered to even go looking for it.