Tillering in cold weather?

[mmattockx]

I am about to start on my first board bow. I live in central Alberta and it is still winter for the next 6 weeks at least. My workshop is unheated so it means I would be tillering a bow at below freezing temperatures. Is this a problem for the wood to handle? Any special precautions I need to take or extra steps/techniques required? I will bring the board out to my workshop and let it acclimate for a week at least before I start working on it.


Thanks,
Mark

[bradsmith2010]

I have never done that,.,should work ok,,,maybe over build it a bit,,,,till it warms up

[Stick Bender]

I tiller most of my bows in winter some times when I only have a hour or so I don't bother with my shop heaters 25-30 deg I have never noticed any difference vs warmer months on self bows, I dont think I would tiller a sinew bow in the cold !

[bushboy]

I live in central Manitoba,north of winnipeg.my concern would be more about humity than the cold.ive tillered many bows in -25c without a noted problem.the wood being over dry could be a culprit being Alberta is so dry.some wood species can handle dry like hickory.

[Weylin]

Like Bushboy said, moisture content is your limiting factor. With really cold temperatures comes low moisture content. That lowers the tension strength of your wood and makes it more prone to breaking. If you can keep your staves/bows somewhere with a healthy relative humidity then you should be able to shoot them and work on them for the day without worrying about the cold.

[mmattockx]

I live in central Manitoba,north of winnipeg.my concern would be more about humity than the cold.ive tillered many bows in -25c without a noted problem.the wood being over dry could be a culprit being Alberta is so dry.some wood species can handle dry like hickory.

Thanks to all for the replies. Good to know our weather won't hold me back much in this. As for humidity, if the wood stays outside the RH isn't usually that low. Right now it is -3C and RH is 84%. The low humidity really is more of an issue indoors when you bring that low moisture content outside air inside and heat it up. RH in my house is often down in the mid 40's in winter but outside not so much. As long as it is the RH that matters and not absolute moisture content of the air I will be OK. If not then I could have issues with it. Only one way to find out, I guess.


Mark

[aznboi3644]

My shop is not heated and I’ve built bows in there this winter in 20F with no problems. 

[StrawHat]

Have to love the primitive bow websites. If one has a question about anything in the process of building primitive archery equipment, just log in and ask the question and you will get the answer. Very helpful and thanks to all.

[Hamish]

I remember reading an article, about 20years or so ago, possibly by Dan Perry(Perry Reflex), where he said that in cold weather a bow becomes harder to draw, as draw weight increases. His fancy yew bows were prone to breakage in tension from these conditions. His whitewood bows were less susceptible to breakage but they were usually a little wider and flatter on the belly.
I don't know how much truth there is as I have never lived in an area where the weather gets much colder than freezing temp.
If it is true, bows tillered under cold winter conditions might turn out underweight in other seasons.

[superdav95]

Relative humidity is the key here as stated.  My bows that sit up in my rack in the house here will be quite dry as winter months go by and susceptible to potentially breakage if I take it out and start shooting it without acclimating it’s mc a little first.  Sadly I’ve learned this the hard way.  Cold and very dry are bad combos.   Some woods are more resilient than others but it’s a potential issue.  The bow I broke recently was a tillered bow with no bow sealer or coating on it either.  That could also contributed to mc loss perhaps too.