Question about drying wood?

[Ncsnipe]

I have access to a kiln for drying wood and was wondering if this can be used to speed up the process. Just wondering if this will cause problems? Also how dry is dry enough to begin building a bow?

[zenmonkeyman]

According to The Bowyers Bible 1, there's nothing wrong with kiln-drying wood.  However, you'd be better off to debark, reduce your stave to near-bow dimensions, paint the ends and back with glue or shellac, stand it up in the corner, and wait 2 weeks.  Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but 7-12% MC is about right for bow wood.  The easy thing to do is get yourself a food scale and weigh your stave every day until it stops losing weight--presuming the air in your house is within reasonable humidity limits. (If your house is too dry, there is a risk of overdrying the wood.)  You may also want to clamp or strap your the stave to a plank in case it wants to warp or twist while drying.  That's a species-specific problem, and whatever you're using should dictate how you go about things.  Was that long-winded enough for you? 

Garett

[woodstick]

i like mine to air dry. atleast 1 year on my osage at min.

[sailordad]

i have used boards that were kiln dried,they were fine
dont know how,or even if a stave that was kild dried would work

do it and let us know

[Jboyd]

In Dean's book hunting the osage bow he talks about a dry box and it is also on his video hunting the bamboo backed osage bow.

I rough out the green wood and get it within 1/4" of your bow and leave it in the house for a few weeks and keep an eye on my hydrometer.

My house on top of my entertainment center has been staying between 35 and 40% humidity, it will dry out fast just in the house at 72 degrees like that.

Weighing it will tell you alot and you can see when it stops losing weight and figure that its pretty dry.

[Hillbilly]

As JBoyd said, a kiln is just a fancy hotbox. I would let the wood airdry a bit before putting much heat to it, though. Get your stave roughed out to near-bow dimensions and seal the ends/back before drying, as a whole stave will probably check severely if you try to dry it fast.

[Gordon]

Dry is dry - it matters not how you get there.

[sonny]

it matters when the kiln causes severe drying checks.
I cut a nice osage tree a couple of years ago, leaving the logs at a buddy's house (to share them with him.) Well he has a buddy who worked
at someplace that has a drying kiln, so I agreed to letting them dry a couple of staves in it, both of which checked so severely that they're basically ruined...
at least to my way of thinking.

kiln dried lumber is suitable for bows.
kiln dried staves are not IMO.