Author Topic: drying green wood?  (Read 2575 times)

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Offline nsherve

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drying green wood?
« on: November 16, 2018, 12:47:48 pm »
Is it a bad idea to dry the green osage using a hotbox? Or, how about steam heating it? ...Or, steam then the hotbox? Is it not worth is, and cause anything bad to the stave?

Offline Pat B

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2018, 03:11:45 pm »
Some woods dry relatively quickly but others take more time. Steam would help dry green wood but you'll still have to dry it more.
What kind of wood are you talking about?
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline nsherve

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2018, 03:35:57 pm »
I'm talking about the green osage I got the other day...and the more I'm going to get this weekend.

Offline Pat B

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2018, 04:19:57 pm »
In Dean Torges' book, Hunting the Osage Bow he would work down a green stave to floor tiller stage, clamp it to a form and steam it. This added reflex but also forced lots of the moisture out. Oily woods like osage take a lot longer to dry than say maple, hickory or
Hop hornbeam. In my opinion slow, deliberate seasoning will make a lot better bow and that will take at least 1 year but longer is better.
 If you do like Dean you could put the stave in a hot box to speed up the rest of the drying. For steaming you'll need to use shellac to seal the ends and back and it will help with the hot box drying afterwards.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline DC

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2018, 04:32:41 pm »
Since you've got lots and lots of Osage you might try speed drying a piece and then report back with the results. I wouldn't use your best stave though.

Offline nsherve

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2018, 06:10:45 pm »
I'm sure there will be quite a bit that'll left alone for a year or more. I probably will do it.

Offline Pat B

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2018, 08:57:58 pm »
If you don't peel the bark and sapwood off of the staves be sure to treat the bark with an insecticide to prevent bores from making Swiss cheese of your osage. The bore eggs are already in the bark.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2018, 06:51:34 am »
I have done all the goof-ups possible on speed drying osage.

Here are a few, all green staves;

Staves in the attic in the summer, bark and sapwood removed and sealed in the summer, ruined by checks. Bark left on, same result.

Sealed Staves in a hot car in the summer, ruined by checks. The same for a closed up out building.

Sealed staves put in a drying box at 100 degrees, badly checked.

Here is what worked;

Reduce the stave to a bow blank let it sit at ambient M/C for a couple of weeks then put it in the hot box at 90 degrees. To be on the safe side I would put it in the box for 12 hours and out for 12 hours to stabilize, then back in the box. I would repeat this for a week then keep it in the box.

I have a moisture meter and have found when you get to 16% MC you are safe leaving the wood in the hot box just don't turn up the heat to far.

Bow blank staves dry out fairly quickly, a month should do it, with raw staves it takes a couple of years at least.

I find bow blanks dry more quickly if kept in your climate controlled house prior to a trip to the hot box.

My standard method is to cut way more osage than I can use, remove the bark and sapwood and seal with shellac. Start the stave drying process, in my case under my house. Pick a few pieces to turn into bow blanks for faster drying, put the rest in the on deck circle. As I make a bow out of wood that has dried I move more to my shop to cut into bow blanks. So, it is under my house, out to the shop, bow blank then bow. With the amount of usage I have it may take 10 years for a piece to go from cut green to a bow, I have bow blanks in my shop that have been there for 3 years, none of them speed dried.

The on deck circle;



« Last Edit: November 17, 2018, 07:02:25 am by Eric Krewson »

Offline BowEd

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2018, 06:58:22 am »
+1 what Eric says.It's my findings too.A general rule is that the denser it is the less it likes to be dried fast being too thick.Example...I've never had red cedar check left to dry thick yet.Wind and sun can check them too.Exceptions are out there like apple and plum woods.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2018, 07:35:26 am by BowEd »
BowEd
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Ed

Offline bjrogg

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2018, 10:32:00 am »
I agree with Eric to. Only thing I'd like to add is Batter Up. That's a really nice looking on deck circle Eric.
Bjrogg
A hot cup of coffee and a beautiful sunrise

Offline nsherve

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #10 on: November 17, 2018, 12:05:42 pm »
I just cut down the rest of trunks on that tree. I'll try to put pictures up later. It'll take me a few weeks to split it all. I only get an hour or two every day during the week, since I have to watch the kids while the wife's working...and it's hunting season.
I am planning to try the steam to hotbox. I'll let you know how that goes...It also won't happen in the next couple weeks. A little bit here and there is all I can do. I put the staves in a corner of the barn.

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: drying green wood?
« Reply #11 on: November 17, 2018, 06:24:26 pm »
Like has been said before, get some bug spray on the bark now. The eggs are in the bark and are hatching larvae to eat up your wood as I type this.