shellbark/shagbark hickory as bow wood?

[youngbowyer]

I cut a piece of shellbark or shagbark( not sure which one) back in July i roughed out in August and went down to final dimensions in september. Came back to it today, did some tillering, only to find that it shoots very sluggish. This bow is recurved and I did heat treat it a month or 2 ago. tiller is near perfect but it just doesn't shoot good. What's wrong?

[cracker]

To get the best performance from hickory it needs to be very dry to  the point that other woods would shatter. My beloved hickory is a moisture hog keep it inside in a heated and cooled environment with low humidity or it will be sluggish. Ron

[DRon knife]

Hi youngbowyer,Hickory is my favorite wood that I've worked on so far,others may say different but their all good,hard as rock and vary on the SG scale very little,Pignut being the hardest!!

I'm not qualified to diagnose your "sluggish" problem as I am only a tenderfoot myself ,gl and let see some pics! 

[artcher1]

Could be a moisture or design problem. But I seen poor quality hickory as well. Do you know the M/C of your bow? A side/back braced/unbraced profile pic of your bow would help evaluate your limb design.

[Ifrit617]

how much set did it take? This is usually an indicator if the hickory is to wet still... I agree pics would be helpful...

Jon

[Eric Garza]

Hickory is my favorite wood. I cut and use a lot of shagbark here in VT, but also use bitternut and pignut occasionally.

Hickory is very dense, and requires a long time to dry and an even longer time to season well. You went from living tree to finished bow in 2 months in the summer, and unless you live in the middle of the desert or kept the wood in a hot box the whole time there's no way that wood was dry. Without seeing pics of your design my first guess is that your wood was still too wet when you tillered the bow, and you did irreparable damage to the limbs during tillering and doomed the bow to a life of sluggishness.

[youngbowyer]

Hickory is my favorite wood. I cut and use a lot of shagbark here in VT, but also use bitternut and pignut occasionally.

Hickory is very dense, and requires a long time to dry and an even longer time to season well. You went from living tree to finished bow in 2 months in the summer, and unless you live in the middle of the desert or kept the wood in a hot box the whole time there's no way that wood was dry. Without seeing pics of your design my first guess is that your wood was still too wet when you tillered the bow, and you did irreparable damage to the limbs that have doomed the bow to a life of sluggishness.

I guess that's the problem. I suppose you can't make a "quick bow" out if it.

[Buckeye Guy]

Please post pictures if you can
If its still high in moisture, scrap the finish off the belly and dry it out!
Guy

[HickoryBill]

Hickory is obviously my favorite bow wood... It could be a moisture issue what are the specs on the bow? Do you know what arrow weight you are shooting? what tiller profile did you use? How thick are your tips? Sorry for so many questions but just trying to help ya out.

[Eric Garza]

I guess that's the problem. I suppose you can't make a "quick bow" out if it.

You can, but you either need a way to heat the wood and force it dry (which I don't do anymore, I've grown weary of forcing anything) or you need to cut the wood in late fall or early winter and let it dry inside your heated house. A heated house has very low humidity, so the indoor air will suck the moisture right out of the wood and will get it down below 10% in a couple months. I tend to cut my hickory in December and January, remove the bark and rough it down to 2 inches wide and maybe 3/4 inches thick, then set it in the living room by the radiator. The wood will be dry enough to turn into a bow probably in 2 months or so.

Do you have a balance, or scale? You might consider getting in the habit of weighing freshly cut staves periodically to see when they reach equilibrium with the surrounding air. If the stave is still losing weight, it's not time to mess with it yet.

[doggonemess]

You can, but you either need a way to heat the wood and force it dry (which I don't do anymore, I've grown weary of forcing anything) or you need to cut the wood in late fall or early winter and let it dry inside your heated house.

I have also heard it said that you can dry staves in your car during the Spring and Summer. Cars regularly get to over 140 degrees in the sun, and by leaving your windows open a crack, you have your own stave dryer. Since we're moving into warmer weather, I'm going to give it a try.