quick drying method?

[broketooth]

i have an osage stave that was cut in april09. can i reduce this to rough dimentions and put it in my attic or a car for a few weeks. is this method safe

[Eric Krewson]

I have ruined wood by trying to quick dry it in various places, the car and attic being two of them, behind the water heater and in a closed up outside storage building were the other two.

If you you reduce your stave, put 3 or 4 coats of shellac on the back and one thick coat on the rest of the stave you may be able to quick dry it, maybe........

[dutchwarbow]

the osage sapwood makes it dangerous to dry it quickly. It checks badly, and those checks run into the heartwood. But if you totally remove the sapwood, chase a ring, then rough it out, drying will go way quicker. In either way I'd seal the ends.

A floortillered stave could be dry in a week, if you live in a dry climate, and use a heatbox. But I'd recommend a month.

Nick

[Art B]

As Eric and Nick mentioned, it's not safe to quick dry Osage. I just roughed out one myself (from Mcquire) that was cut in April. I removed the sapwood and reduced to near floor tiller. Steamed straight and sealed (the whole thing) with spar urethane after dry.

I hang my roughed out bows on the wall horizonally in my bedroom for final drying. Osage is a different animal than whitewoods, being just "dry" isn't good enough IMO. Give it plenty of time to season out. Hope to finish mine out about this time next yeat. Good luck.

ART B

[DCM]

I think if you use sufficient care, you can accelerate the drying of osage safely.  "Quick" is a subjective term, but certainly reducing the thickness (predominantly) will help.  
I think if you choose a method where you progressively introduce an increasingly dry environment you may improve results.  For example, leave it in a 70% Rh for a week, then 50% a week, then 40% a week.  I have checked a fair amount of osage, so I agree with the cautions above.  It pays to examine the wood very carefully, daily, at least for the first couple of weeks.  

At the same time, my curiousity usually gets the best of me when I cut new wood and it's not at all uncommon for me to cut a tree in February or March and have a shooting, finished osage bow to take to Mojam (this week) in July.

[Roy Steele]

I agree Osage dos'nt dry very well quicky.I stock up yearly and let dry out naturally out of the sun and weather.
  I uselly wait 4 to 5 years but it you cut it down to simi bow fourm.I've builted bows in a year.

[Wild Russian]

broketooth,
there is an old trick for quick drying wood.
If you have a pot big enough for the log you're  drying, just boil the wood in salted water. You need about 15-20 min. for every mm of thickness minimum. Then let dry it in the shadow for about 2-3 weeks and check it.

[DVSHUNTER]

A cheap hot box and wood that is sealed on both ends and the single ring on the back drys in about a month.  I always let them sit in about 75 to 80 degres for the first month and then increase the heat by 10 degrees a week until I reach 100 then another week and I think its pretty dry.

[Springbuck]

Take the sapwood off, and roughing it out will obviously help it dry faster.  With osage, I wouldn't try to force it.

  Fast is relative, though.  I take elm to  MC in a week all the time.

[George Tsoukalas]

I don't think I've ever quick dried anything but I don't really remember. Torges deals with with steaming and quick drying green osage in a hot box. Check Hunting the Osage Bow. At this point, I'd take your stave, remove the bark and sapwood, chase to your ring, seal the back with poly, and get the limbs to bend slightly. Please note where I said to the seal the back. Then put it aside. Once the bark and sapwood are removed, seal the back pronto. A friend once bought an osage stave at a shoot that had the bark removed and a heartwood ring chased. The back was not sealed. By the time he got it home the back was riddled with drying cracks. Once the back is sealed you can work on it at your leisure. Thinner wood dries quicker and is less likely to warp. Jawge