quick drying

[alex b]

hi i recently cut a hickory tree and am very anxious to make a bow. any way to primitively dry wood fast?
i know about the hot boxs and such but i only work with hand tools and no electricity!

thanks

[ricktrojanowski]

I would rough it out to floor tiller dimensions then put it somewhere dry and warm (Maybey inside a primitive car with the windows closed ).  You might want to strap it to something straight to keep it from twisting.

[Jmilbrandt]

Exactly. If you do that it can dry in as quick as a week.

[Hillbilly]

What Rick said. Near a primitive heating/air conditioning register works well, too.

[George Tsoukalas]

Rough it out and you can actually begin to floor tiller. Get the limbs moving a few inches. Leave h nocks an inch wide and the handle full width for now. Jawge

[Pappy]

What Jawges and Hillbilly said is what I use to do all the time when I was in a hurry,you can dry it out in a month or so.
   Pappy

[Postman]

Make sure you plug the foot holes in the primitive car so it really heats up

[Cacatch]

Just be careful. I have seen that hickory loves to twist and check if you try to dry it too fast. Definately do what has been said which is get it roughed out to tillering stage. Then, I'd rub it down with lard and put it someplace warm. This will let it dry but not so fast that it starts twisting and checking. After a few days, you can take a dry rag and rub the lard off, and put it back in the warm place with no lard for another couple weeks or so.

[Kegan]

I'm doing the same thing, only in bulk (many bows). I rough them out as close as I can get it and cook them as much as I can. I've had some twisting and checking, but nothing so bad that I couldn't still make a good, strong (65+#) bow out of them. I think slowly working them down more and more as you quick dry it will get you a bow in about a month or two.