Pat, thanks for the response. If I understand correctly, a stave that is dry doesen't have the same properties as one that has been dried and seasoned for several years. This may be the reason some of my bows have taken on more set than I feel they should have. For instance, my first two osage bows both ended up with about 2 to 2-1/2" of set. Both of these bows were made from the same stave at 1 year from the stump. The wood was dried inside in the winter. Each stave was weighed on a scale that measures to the tenth of an ounce, when they stopped losing weight I assumed that they were as dry as they were going to get and started to tiller them. If I had left them go for another year or so, good bows could have been great bows.
Still trying to get my head around what takes place during the drying/seasoning process. I've always thought that getting the moisture out of a stave meant that it was ready to work, but there must be more going on than just loss of moisture. Please don't take me as being argumentative, I'm just trying to understand....Dan