Drying wood

[recurvericky]

What is the best way to dry wood that is going to be used in a fiber glass lam bow? I will be cutting down a Honey Locust and would like to use it in a bow.

[Jim Jackson]

I stacked cherry, walnut and osage in an open sided loafing shed and air dried with spacers.  Several years later it was ready to go.  I haven't used a solar kiln, but have heard good things about them.  Check out these plans:   http://owic.oregonstate.edu/solarkiln/plans.htm

[onemississipp]

Here is a good read...

 http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/for/for55/for55.htm

The link is down right now, I looked at it yesterday. Maybe it will come back up.

[Aeronut]

You might contact Kenny McKenzie for some pointers.  He's making lams now and you can find him in the sponsor's classified section.

[ChristopherO]

If you have a hot box for cooking your bows it will do double duty as a kiln, too.  Just monitor your heat and time.

[Wild Russian]

Maybe the fastest way to dry wood is to boil it  
Salt, water, stainless pipe and heat...

[recurvericky]

Thanks guys.
If I use my hot box how long would I need to leave the wood in it. I do not have a moister meter. I am using the thermostat that Binghams sells.

[onemississipp]

Hardwood Drying Schedules

 http://www1.fpl.fs.fed.us/drying.html

[onemississipp]

or try

 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=kiln+schedules&spell=1

[Dan Bonner]

Ricky,
If you plan to use it for lams, my experience has been that you can go ahead and rip and grind it close to desired thickness, put it in a hotbox at about 100 or so degrees for about a  month or so, pull it out, grind it to exact thickness and build a bow. If you are planning to use it for riser wood you got some waitin'to do. You can cut it in half inch thick slats a good bit longer than your riser, because it will check at the ends, dry it in your hotbox like the lams I discribed for several months, and laminate it up to your riser thickness after trimming the checked ends. The other option is to flitch saw the log, sticker and stack for a few yrs and then build a bow.

Im waiting on some persimmon and osage to dry now so i feel your pain.

Dan