Best bet?

[radius]

The other thread which talks a bit about dry wood/ cured wood is King Ron's Osage Bow....but this one has now eclipsed that one.

As for you guys who can't read "commonwealth" temperature, well, that's funny...35 degrees is just damn hot!

[sailordad]

see i still dont know what 35c is,too me its not hot till it hits triple digits and i'm from mn,we know what cold is,hot thats the other 2 weeks of the year

[Kegan]

It seems to me, that long term curing does seem to have an affect. I've managed to make white wood bows in about a week. However, they were only so-so shooters, and followed the string slightly more than I would have wanted on average- even though they were at an acceptable MC. I have also made bows from other bows, or roughed out staves, that have been sitting around from six to twelve months, or more. These seemed to work better (the wood responded to the tools in a better manner) and stabilize (especially during tillering) more quickly- like Pappy said. Up until now, I just thought it was me though .

However, the variation between woods seems quite dramatic. Red oak seems to have reached this "stage" much more quickly than hickory or white oak- red oak reached it in about six months or so, where as hickory can take uo to and over a year to reach it. It also seems to be affected by the size of the stave, and the size of tree that it came from (smaller trees seem to reach it more quickly).

I've got several sister staves, two of which are being "quick cured" in slightly over a month or two, the rest will be set aside for much longer. I'll see if there is any big difference. I'd also like to check how "Indian" bows (small trees roughed out quickly into whitewood bows) age.

[Pappy]

I don't know about Red Oak but Hickory take a long while to season,you can get it dry pretty
quick by roughing it into a bow and putting it up,but it still ant seasoned.It will make a pretty
good bow quick dried but I think It will make a better one if you can wait a year or 2.That
is why I keep so many roughed out.I will date them ,when they were cut and when they were roughed out,steamed and straighted and reflexed and then just put them up in a cool dry place.
Some don't have that luxury but if you can I think it is better.
   Pappy

[shamus]

Honestly: I don’t know.

One school of thought is that dry wood is dry wood, whether it takes one month or 5 years.

Another school of thought is that drying wood is one part of the seasoning process , and something else happens at the cellular level if you give it enough time. What that "something" is has not been scientifically investigated to my knowledge (I'll have to research hat further..) Could be hokum, could be fact. There's an established tradition of curing wood for long periods of time. If it didn’t serve some purpose, then it wouldn’t have been done.

Unanswered questions.

By default, I tend to season my wood for years at a stretch. I just take my time getting to the good stuff. I have some 10 year old yew, osage, and mulberry waiting to be worked on. I also have some fresh mulberry that'll sit around for a few years. On a side note, I've quick dried by reducing staves to bow dimensions and letting them sit to a clamped 4X6 in 50% RH….the resulting bows seemed to perform just fine.

I've done both with good results.

[Pat B]

A good argument for long term curing would be the Tulip Poplar(Lariodendron tulipifera [sp?]) that was used in some of the older barns around here. Poplar is a relatively soft wood. After 100 years or so you would have a hard time driving a nail into or pulling a nail out of this wood. Years of curing turn this and other woods to near stone consistancy.
   In Dean Torges book, "Hunting the Osage Bow" Dean talks about fast curing green wood somewhat in the steam chamber. Even though the humidity is very high in his steam chamber it still isn't enough to prevent some of the woods moisture to be forced out. Dean did have the back and ends sealed with shellac, which is not affected by the steam, to prevent and drying checks. His staves were near bow size and clamped to a caul so the end result was some added reflex along with dryer wood...but they still aren't cured! IMO      Pat

[JackCrafty]

Growing up in New England I saw a lot of old wood, old furniture, and old structures.  It's true that wood changes over time but I have seen wood that gets harder over time and wood that gets softer over time.  Most of the changes occur on the surface of the wood, with the innermost wood hardly changing at all.

There was an article recently about why old violins sound better than new ones.  It turns out that scientists using CAT scan technology discovered that the older wood has less variation in density between growth rings than the newer wood.  They concluded that the older violins were made from better trees.  That's it!

"Curing" might make a bow perform better but I think the effect is only skin deep, so to speak.  For the most part, older wood is more brittle and unstable that newer wood.  The biggest difference is probably in the quality of the stave, not in the age of the stave....we tend to save our best staves for that "special" time when we think we have enough experience to make that perfect bow we all dream about.

[knightd]

I built A Osage naturally reflexed bow it dried for 3 month's it came in at 60# every year it would gain 3# to 5# for 3yrs it did this. After 3yrs of retillering down to 60#It was Finlay stable.. Much snappier than it was to start with..But i was happy with it to start with. So my thoughts are yes fast dried wood builds a good bow!! but cured is better. Just a matter of the time you want to spend waiting..I myself well I don't have the Patience..

 P.S
      It also gained a full 1" of reflex over the 3yrs.

 Dave

[Pat B]

I have noticed with hardwood shoot arrows(Art Butner brought this to my attention) they increase in spine weight over a couple of years. That is one reason I cut shoots each year and bundle them and store them. I make my shoot arrows from last years or the year before shoots. The wood is more stable and the spine doesn't change.  Pat