how should ...

[shootinbud]

(how should )sourwood shoots be seasoned ?

[Coo-wah-chobee]

 ..........................................Maybe Pat B will weigh in . Hes the "guru" of sourwood ! He LUVS em !....bob

[shootinbud]

hopefully!

[Pat B]

Patience grasshopper. ...and I was taught by the guru, Art Butner but Hillbilly and others make beautiful sourwood arrows.
   What I do is collect them, bundle them in bunches of 10 to 15 and let them season for a few months. Then I scrape the bark off and straighten them with cooking oil and heat. After I get most of the crooks out I use a thumb plane to reduce the size and spine weight and this also helps to remove some slight crooks(but I don't like them too straight ). When they are the spine weight and size I want them to be I will go back to the heat(kitchen gas range but no oil) and starting at the nock end(small) and scorch a pattern down the shaft for decoration but also to temper the shaft. This helps to keep them straight.
   Just recently I have removed the bark from fresh sourwood shoots and none have checked so far. This will speed up the drying process. Good arrows can be made with dry shafts but great arrows have to be made with seasoned shafts.     Pat

[Hillbilly]

I do mine pretty much the same as Pat, except I tend to peel the bark pretty quickly when I have time and ain't too lazy (they don't check as badly as many other woods) and hand-straighten them periodically as they dry. The shoots will shrink considerably as they dry, so cut bigger shoots than what you think you need. I've had good luck cutting finger-sized shoots and planing them down to 5/16" or 11/32"-they seem to stay straight better than smaller shoots.