Worked down Osage Drying Time

[JW_Halverson]

Speaking of no pants....I have been told that the way I dance reminds people of a man frying bacon naked.

And along those lines, Barred Owl, who cooks, who cooks, who cooks for youuuuuu?

[PEARL DRUMS]

The only hang up with weighing staves is that they can weigh the same for a few weeks if the humidity doesn't change. That doesn't mean they are dry, its just means they stopped losing weight and equalized with the air in the room. Here is my rule of thumb. If my room humidity is under 45% and the wood is near bow size Ill give it 4-5 weeks and build a bow.

[wizardgoat]

Ya obviously where you live plays a big factor. In vancouver humidity changes constantly, but in my house it changes very little. I had a roughed out vine maple stave that had lost about 5 grams of water in 2 months. Its equalized for a week, then it gained a little weight after some rain (like .05 of gram).
I'm a new bowyer with a shed full of wet wood, so my options are limited. A scale is the only way I feel I can get it close.
but id obviously rather my shed being full of dry and seasoned wood.

[wizardgoat]

I also have a recently roughed out osage stave, that was cut in jan.
its still losing lots of water water steadily

[PEARL DRUMS]

I have staves that are anywhere from 1-20 yrs old stored in my basement, which hovers around 65-70% humidity all summer. If I grabbed one to work I would rough it down and sit it on a register upstairs to dry out via air conditioning and consistent RH for at least a week or more. If it where winter time and the humidity down there was 25-35% like it usually is, Id grab one of the wall and tear into it right away. In my opinion, common sense trumps weighing staves more often than not.

[JW_Halverson]

But Pearlie, your so called "common sense" is nothing more than a vast amount of experience in working with wood and knowing what a dry stave feels like under the tool.  The only way to gather that experience is to repeatedly risk good wood.  Sure enough, eventually he will get there...until then, general rules of thumb help save frustration and expense. 

[Badger]

  One thing I have found that tips me off early to high moisture is a low power to mass ratio. If a bow starts bending while it still has too much wood I know the moisture is high.

[PeteC]

With osage,I take it down to bow dimensions,then give it 6 months to cure.It is said that wood cures at a rate of one inch/year.  With whitewoods I do like a lot of the others. Take the bow to near finished dimension,clamp to a form. One month on the form.Take it off,then begin weighing the stave.When it goes a solid week without losing weight I'll start tillering. If it ever seems a little soft,I'll give it a little longer,(a week or so),then try it again. JMHO .  God Bless

[okie64]

Osage gets better with age, the older the better.