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Sealing Stave Ends

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woody:
A big wood glue squeeze bottle and something to spread the glue over the ends (like an old paint brush) should do the trick.  Plus it's cheap!!!!!

Bob S.:
Lots of good ideas. I didn't realise that the back of the bow needed to be done too. You guys are a huge help. Thank's.

Pat B:
Bob, What you are trying to do is reduce the moisture content(M/C) in the stave to about 9% to 11% for most woods(hickory 6%). As the moisture leaves the wood, it dries out from the outside inward. The cells shrink and the wood fibers separate...check. By sealing the ends, and the back if you remove the bark, the moisture can only escape through the belly of the stave, usually waste wood anyway.
   A full stave is more stable than one that has been reduced to almost bow dimensions but will dry slower. If you do reduce to almost bow dimensions for faster drying, clamp the stave to a form to control twists and turns while drying. Amazing how complicated this primitive stuff can get.
 Marc St Louis used to say,"just because its simple doesn't mean it's easy"
So, Just have fun! ;)  Pat

Bob S.:
Gotcha. This brings up another question. (funny how that works) I'll be drying a couple full stave's, cut when the sap is up. How do you know when they are dry enough? Obviously the wetter they are the longer they need to dry.

Pat B:
Bob, You can either get a moisture meter(I bought one years ago but rarely use it) or weigh the stave every day and when you can go 3 days without any drop in weight it has hit it's equilibrium with the R/H.  After many years of building wood bows, I have gotten to a point that I can usually tell if a stave is dry enough by feel and the sound my tools make on it. More of a ringing sound than a dull sound.
 As long as you don't stress the green stave you can work it down to floor tiller stage. From there it will dry relatively quickly.   Pat

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