Lilac?

[lebhuntfish]

If I remember right I have seen some bows made of lilac on here.
I just notice that I have several, very large, lilac trees where I live. 
Any tips on drying the staves? Ill probably be able to cut 3 or 4 that I have picked out.
What do you guys think.

Patrick 

[mikekeswick]

It is great wood but drying is problematic...
You need to use all the tricks for lilac. I have had success with roughing the stave out as thin as possible. Coating the whole thing in pva and then leaving to dry as slowly as possible by putting it in a hessian sack full of shavings from a wood turner friend. You really need to slow the moisture release right down. Normally split staves with sealed ends have literally checked in half. I live in a very humid place.

[upstatenybowyer]

Lilac is an awesome bow wood. As for drying I'd say you have 2 options... seal the ends, leave the bark on and wait a year or two, or debark, rough out a bow as quickly as possible, seal the back and ends and clamp in place to avoid warping. That way it should only be a month or so until its at equilibrium MC. 

P.S. Mike is absolutely right about taking all precautions!

[PatM]

 I've never seen a stave obtained from a tree species of lilac. Everyone seems to use the bush forms of smaller diameter.
  The lilac trees barely seem like they are related. We have a lot of them lining the streets here and they are up to 8 inches or so in diameter. Hard to say  if their wood is like the smaller stuff.

[Pat B]

You might wait until winter when the M/C is down some from the growing season. I've never used lilac so it's just a guess.
 I've seen some very cool bows made from Lilac. Seems most were from Europe.

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks guy's! Ill probably give it a try.  Ill take into account the cracking when it dries. 

I seen this thread on pa from some time ago.  Of course the pics are all gone thanks to photo bucket but the scientific name listed in the title is identical to the trees I have. 
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=7301.0

Patrick

[lebhuntfish]

You might wait until winter when the M/C is down some from the growing season. I've never used lilac so it's just a guess.
 I've seen some very cool bows made from Lilac. Seems most were from Europe.

Ill probably do that Pat,  I need to do a bunch of tree triming this fall.  Im in no rush either,  they are right out back. 

Patrick