Dried wood and seasoned wood??

[onemississipp]

Reading in one of my books last night "Bows and arrows of the native americans" by Jim Hamm.

He was talking about seasoned wood and went on to say Osage should wait to be worked into a bow 2 years after it had been reduced to close bow dimensions. Not just once it had been split.

And then told of a man that work his Osage green, I assume he means "dry", and then the man would have to retiller once the wood seasoned.


So my question is this has anyone experienced this?

I just finished a Osage bow that was cut and reduced in March 2007. Do you think it will increase draw weight over time?

I have a board bow of red oak, that was finished one year ago, its weight and tiller have not changed.

[the Ferret]

Osage dries at about the rate of 1" a year (from each surface) and by dry I mean looses moisture from when it's cut untill it reaches equilibrium with the outside ambient moisture content. A 12" log could take quite a while to dry, but if that log was split into quarters then each quarter would take less time to dry than the entire log. And if two of the quarters were debarked, sapwood removed and reduced to 2" squares they would take even less time. And if one of those two inch squares had the limbs reduced to 3/4" thick, that one would take even less time to dry, and could probably be worked or tillered in about 6 weeks if kept in a 40 percent humidity environment.

Your red oak board bow was reduced to 6-8%moisture content artifically thru kiln drying.If sealed well it won't change much.

[onemississipp]

Ferret,
  What about the seasoned part, is there a difference?

Wikipedia says this...
"Wood drying also known as seasoning lumber"

at the top of the page but on down the page says this...

"Wood drying (not to be confused with "seasoning")"

[Osagetree]

IMHO - Seasoned is the same as dry. I have made a couple bows after a few weeks of removing to profile lines and when still green. The trick to not getting checks in the wood is a coat of boiled linseed oil. After being reduced to the profile lines, sealed and left inside the house for a few weeks, you can tiller. Just re-seal every time you're done removing wood. You may receive a little more set than a seasoned stave, but with good tillering,,, not much more!

Joe

[onemississipp]

I'm with both you guys on this, I was wondering if someone had made a green wood (meaning dry but not a year old yet)  bow, then after two years checked tiller and draw weight to find they had changed. Mainly the draw weigh increasing.

[Eric Krewson]

Don't make a green osage bow. Osage does some strange things as it dries. You can start with a dead straight green stave and end up with a propellered, deflexed, dog leg stave when it dries. Wait until your stave is dry, heat correct the flaws and make your bow.