how long to dry?

[bubby]

I cut some what I thought was creek dogwood this weekend, grows bushlike, and wanted some ideas on how long to dry it. I peeled the bark off, both about 3/4" on one end and 11/8" on the other, at least 7' long. any gestimation to get me in the ballpark, thank's BuB

[sailordad]

well a good rule of thumb is
one year for every inch of thickness of the wood

myself every stave i get i let sit for a year,even if its already dry.thats just me,i can be a bit anal
i let all fresh cut wood dry until it rings when tapped on concrete
but then when i do have fresh cut its still  sits atleast a year(or more) after its split into staves for drying

[aaron]

it really depends on the wood and drying conditions. i know nothing about dogwood, but i regularly make bows from vine maple saplings and only let them dry a couple months. first i split and shave them down until they are about 1 1/4  inch thick at the grip, tapering to 3/4 inch tips. then let dry: for the first week i try to dry it slowly, then put it in warmer or drier spots during the following weeks. some woods split if dried too quickly- if you seal the ends it will prevent splitting, but it slows the drying alot. it sounds like you have two staves? you could try "my" method on one and let the other dry more slowly. if you did not alrady seal the ends and they have not chrcked (split) yet, then you may have a wood that tolerates this quick dry technique. Good luck!

[bubby]

Aaron, I'm in nor cali so the quick dry might work, I'll put one back and try to wait a year, but don't know if I have sailordad's patients. The other in this dry 90 deg. + weather should dry out fairly fast, no splits or cracks yet, and their plenty long if the tip's split a little. thank's for the reply, Bub

[majsnuff]

Whae Aaron said. also, lable the staves with date and species so you don't loose track.