wood mc

[helmet]

I have been searching this site for info on ideal mc for a bow and need a litlle help. According to a chart I got off of one of the threads my wood will only try to 12-13% on its own. Is this enough? And if I bring it down to 10%  in a hot box and then seal it, will it stay at 10%? Or is it better to just let the wood be 12-13%?

[Jakesnyder]

Are you using a moisture reader? If its one with the 2 probes that you stick into the wood. That's not necessarily the correct mc the whole way through the stave. Weighing the stave every few days till it stops loosing weight is more accurate in my opinion. What's your relative humidity for your area this time of the year? I've always got my staves as dry as I can then work it down to close dimentions to let it finish drying. Hope this helps

[Pat B]

The ideal M/C for most bow woods is 9% to 11% but hickory like 6%. Most other woods would blow up at 6%.
Adding a finish will only slow down the hygroscopic rate, the movement of water vapor in and out of wood as the humidity changes. This isn't an instantaneous situation though. it takes a few days or more to change. In humid times you can use a hot box to maintain proper M/C  as will keeping your bow in a climate controlled area like your home.

[DC]

Since the bow is going to spend most of it's life in storage even if you use it every day I don't see any point in drying it any drier than your storage spot will maintain. Try and fInd a spot in your house that averages as close to 50%RH as you can get and keep your bows there. Even if you have a good seal on the bow eventually it will equalise with your storage spot. The RH around here is a bit high, sounds much like yours. You could build a warm box, just warm enough to offset your local RH, but it would have to be big enough to hold all your bows.

[helmet]

No moister reader. I was just going off one of those charts that has temp. and humidity =mc. The average humity here is like 70%. I have generally done the same think Jake,  but didint realize that the wood was probably only getting to 12 %. But accordign to Pat 9-11% is good so I aint going to sweat it. Dc do you store your bows in the house or do you have some other special set up?

[George Tsoukalas]

I use a mc meter right down to the bow's first stringing. That way you get good, hard empirical readings right close to center. I never used charts.

I like 8-10% for most woods and 6-8% for hickory.

Jawge

[DC]

I store them in the "back hall". I spotted hygrometers all around the house looking for the best spot. In the winter when heating dries the air in the house it's a little cooler back there so the RH doesn't drop as much. In the summer the bows just have to live with 60-70% some days. Most are in the 50-60% range.