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Author Topic: Humidity and tillering?  (Read 1624 times)

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Offline Stingray45

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Humidity and tillering?
« on: July 21, 2011, 03:43:55 pm »
Quick question guys. I'm wondering how humidity will affect a bow I'm trying to tiller. The bow is 68" ntn and I am trying to get to 29". I had it worked up to 18" and about 30#-31# then I stretched it and worked it up to 20" and it's still pulling at 30# with the additional 2". I wasn't expecting a ton of weight but I was thinking it would be pulling around 33# or 34# at 20", typically I can expect about 2# per inch. Could the humidity being playing a part here? I'm in Northern VA, right outside of DC and we're gonna be close to 100 degrees and I think it's supposed to feel like 110 or something like that. I was out this morning and it was 81 degrees at 7:30 am and felt like 95. Am I best to wait until this passes? Tomorrow is supposed to be 103 but feel like 115 or so. Any advice welcome. Thanks.

~Barry
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Offline artcher1

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Re: Humidity and tillering?
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2011, 03:53:54 pm »
Heat alone will make your bow more pliable Barry. Do you keep your bow in an airconditioned house where the r/h is lower when you're not working on it? Art
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Offline HoBow

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Re: Humidity and tillering?
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2011, 04:14:57 pm »
Whaty is the wood?
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Jeff Utley- Atlanta GA

Offline Stingray45

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Re: Humidity and tillering?
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2011, 04:43:26 pm »
~Art

Yeah. I keep it in my "shed" closet under the basement stairs and I live in a townhouse that is built into the side of a hill so its pretty cool in there. Probably a constant 65-70 degrees this time of year. I've been trying to work on it a night but its still probably 90 degrees and its tougher for me to see all the bending in the dark with my pulley system.

~HoBow

The bow is made of Ash.
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Offline toomanyknots

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Re: Humidity and tillering?
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2011, 04:47:04 pm »
I've been wondering this myself lately, the humidity has been pretty bad where I live here outside cincinnati.
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"The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow-
 the upper part is pressed down,
 the lower part is raised up,
 the part that has too much is reduced,
 the part that has too little is increased."

- Tao Te Ching, 77, A new translation by Victor H. Mair

mikekeswick

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Re: Humidity and tillering?
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2011, 05:17:25 pm »
It really depends how long the bow is exposed to higher humidity. Wood takes a reasonable amount of time to take on excess moisture. I'd suggest getting yourself some humidity meters to keep everywhere you store your wood.
Did you exercise the bow well enough between wood removal? Say a bow is pulling 45lbs at 20, you remove wood then weight it again maybe it dropped 1lb ,exercise it 30 -50 times and it will have dropped more on the scale at the same length.
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Offline Stingray45

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Re: Humidity and tillering?
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2011, 05:36:58 pm »
Hey Mike,

Yeah I always exercise in between removing wood and going up. For example I removed wood at 17" so I started back at 15" and pulled it about 25-30 times there, and at 16" and at 17" and then at 18".
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Is there anything better than wandering the earth with a stick and string in your hand?

Offline artcher1

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Re: Humidity and tillering?
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2011, 05:39:02 pm »
That's some good advice Mike gave about those humidity monitors Barry. If you don't already have several then it would be a wise investment to do so. Gave like 6-7 bucks for mine. Got several of 'em myself.

I suspect moisture will effect ones bow quicker than we think. Doesn't have to enter the interior of the wood, just it's tension/compression surfaces to cause problems.  I would wait for drier cooler conditions to finish up that bow........Art
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