hickory bow

[blackpanem]

Gonna try starting a hickory bow tommarow. theres a few small knots in the stave but i think i might get it to work. wish me luck!

[nativenoobowyer86]

Good luck!

[soy]

Best of luck to you  let's see a before pic.love me some pics 

[Pappy]

Good luck,Hickory makes a fine bow,just be sure to keep it dry.
   Pappy

[edseljoe]

Pappy, is hickory known for warping when wet?  I'm a comparative noob...

edseljoe

[Weylin]

It's known for getting sluggish and taking alot of set when it's wet.
And by wet i mean high moisture content, not getting some water splashed on it. But I'd avoid that too...

[H Rhodes]

I just finished a hickory bow from a three inch sapling.  It had several knots right in the working part of the limbs and there have been no problems through a couple hundred shots.  hickory is tuff stuff.  I followed Paul Comstock's advice in his chapter on whitewood bows in TBB 1 or 2....  i can't remember which....  i have read the covers of them!

[Pat B]

Any wood will warp as it dries unless it is supported somehow. If you keep a stave full size and allow it to dry slowly the bulk of the stave itself will help controll this warpage. If you reduce your green stave to almost bow size and seal the back and ends it will draw up into reflex because the drying is uneven due to the sealed back and will twist some due to the unevenness of the wood thickness so it should be bound or clamped to a form of some sort as it dries.
  Reflex in a stave is a good thing but I want to controll that reflex so it is as even as possible when I start building the bow. Too much reflex is not necessarily a good thing either. The more reflex to a stave the more stress that stave has to go through just to get to brace. That excess stress leads to set as you tiller out your bow which will more than likely reduce the performance of the finished bow.