ipe board suggestions?

[ionicmuffin]

how do i go about figuring out what mc its at? should i build a hot box? I know that ive had issues with set before, part of it is probably the mc of the board. I live in Washington state, the RH here is like 55-65% indoors and out doors it can be upwards of 70 or so...

[DarkSoul]

In my opinion, both a moisture meter and a hot box for drying wood are useless items. You can spend your money on much better things.
Buy a cheap thermometer and humidity meter. Measure the RH and temperature for a few days straight and calculate the average. A "wood EMC table" (google it) will tell you at what moisture content (MC) the wood is. With a room temp and 55-65% RH, you'll end up around 10-12% moisture. This is above ideal for most woods, but ipé is pretty forgiving in its MC. Bamboo likes a lower MC. However, in that climate you're likely to suffer more set in for instance hickory and ash; two woods that prefer a lower MC of around 6-8%.

[ionicmuffin]

Alright. Ill forgo the hotbox and see about those two tools you talked about, also, ive heard that for ipe sealing it can be a pain, but ive also heard that deft works well with it even if its for the first coat. What do you think?

[DarkSoul]

I've only used varnish on ipé, with good results. Since ipé is basically not porous at all, most oils will not be readily absorbed. That may not be a problem if you apply thin coats, but run a test on a scrap to see how you should apply your desired finish and if you like the finished product.

[ionicmuffin]

ok, now as for the calipers vs the thermometer, which would you deem more important?

[DarkSoul]

A caliper costs 12 USD from Dealextreme(dot)com. The thermometer/humidity meter may be as little as five bucks. I don't know your financial situation, but I'd start with the humidity meter.

[DLH]

If you are really interested in the moisture content you could look into the oven dry method. All you need is an oven and a scale but it will give more accurate of a moisture content than a moisture meter. The only drawback is that the less accurate scale you have the less accurate the calculated moisture content will be.

[adb]

In my opinion, both a moisture meter and a hot box for drying wood are useless items. You can spend your money on much better things.
Buy a cheap thermometer and humidity meter. Measure the RH and temperature for a few days straight and calculate the average. A "wood EMC table" (google it) will tell you at what moisture content (MC) the wood is. With a room temp and 55-65% RH, you'll end up around 10-12% moisture. This is above ideal for most woods, but ipé is pretty forgiving in its MC. Bamboo likes a lower MC. However, in that climate you're likely to suffer more set in for instance hickory and ash; two woods that prefer a lower MC of around 6-8%.

+1

[ionicmuffin]

Thanks guys, well I bought the bamboo, I bought the thermometer and I will probably just use my TB2. I cant afford the calipers atm and I will have to wait to get a scale for weighing things like arrowheads and other stuff.  So basically i should make a bendy handle with the handle 1 1/4 inches and tapers to 1/2 inches at the tips? I'm thinking this would be the best way to keep the handle from being over stressed and also it would mean I don't need to make the handle any thicker. Do you guys think that would be a nice birthday gift? I'm giving it to my friend that I've known since four, hes asked for one a while ago.

[Dan K]

Hit local estate sales. You can pick up a weight watcher scale for a couple bucks. I see them all the time.

[ionicmuffin]

Ok, so a new question arises, i really dont want the handle to be 1 1/4 inches wide, so i was thinking, maybe i could just put a powerlam in between the bamboo and the ipe. My goal in doing this would be to make the handle section stiffer thus allowing me to reduce the width of the handle section down to about 1 inch total, i also thought, maybe i could reduce a tiny bit where the arrow will be paradoxing, if i do so i would probably need it to be a tiny bit thicker at this point than the rest of the handle, in total i dont see this being any less than 3/4 inch at that point, although i would be willing to keep it up towards 7/8 or even just stay at 1", what do you guys think? bad idea for first go? i still plan to keep the handle bendy but i want to keep it thinner.

[bubby]

have you got little teeny tiny hands serioslly that isn't very big I think my 12 yr old grandson has one with a inch and a quarter grip, you can just leave the wood deeper in the grip area but you end up with the same mass

[ionicmuffin]

its not the mass I'm worried about but how much more paradox the arrow will be doing when passing over the bow.

[bubby]

stiil not a problem, just have to get the proper spined arrows for the bow

[ionicmuffin]

this is true, but still, do you ever not want to have a high paradox or do you just not care too much? I've seen a bow with 1/2 inch transitions into fades that are as wide as what I'm talking about, the handle was super comfortable.