Stand up/ Lay down?

[Tree_Ninja]

    Hey Folks,

   I've been lurking on here for about a  year now.  I'm a forest technician (logging) living on vancouver island.  I've built two bows  so far (pics in the future).  There's lots of great knowledge and inspiration on this site and in the magazines...


   So here's the thing. I am "impatient" and have made staves and bows from oceanspray I only dried for 6-8 months.  For the most part the bows are averaging around 15% moisture (pin reader).  I cut a stave out in in the bush from a yew, (I was going to leave the stave in he bush to freak out the loggers),  but as I chopped away I started to like it.  I attempted to heat treat some bends out of it, and thought I had succeeded.

    I placed the unfinished staves on top of my heater vent (standing on tips) to dry out further for final tiller.   About 5-7 days later I looked at the yew stave, and it had returned to it's original shape, and It formed some major deflex.  I also suspect the oceanspray I stood up to have taken a bit of deflex on one limb.


    I will never stand up my staves again.

  My question is,  has anyone ever experienced this before with greenish wood?   All of my wood is drying (with sealed ends) in my garage standing up.

    Should I lie my wood down as well?  I thought standing them up would get more air flow, but I worry the weight of it will cause it to twist and curve while drying.


    Thanks

-    JH

[PEARL DRUMS]

I stand all mine up. There is a difference between standing up a 1.5" round trunk of OS and a 1/4 log of wood. Bigger 1/4's are more stable and stay put while they dry. I have horizontal screws in the walls in my stave stash room that I hang branches and small limbs on to dry.

[blackhawk]

I don't think your issue has anything to do which way you set your wood...I'm betting there was more than 15% mc in it....moisture meters are a waste of time IMO for bowmaking,n just read at the surface and not inside the wood where it can be much higher and different.  Unseasoned/undried yew has a reputation of deflexing if trying to rush things along. If your in a hurry clamp em down next time after ya rough out green yew.

[Jim Davis]

...

        I placed the unfinished staves on top of my heater vent (standing on tips) to dry out further for final tiller. 

I'm sure standing on end had nothing to do with the kinks in the staves. But putting one end of a stave on a heater vent is likely to dry that end of the stave much more than the other. And, if there is much moisture in the stave, it's very likely to produce cracks in the end that's on the vent.

Jim Davis

[DC]

I'm thinking it's the heat vent/impatience. I have taken twist and kinks out of yew and OS and stood them in the garage with no problems. I don't have any heat on them. I sent you a PM
Don

[Tree_Ninja]

   Thanks for the replies.

     I knew the yew was very green, I'm sort of "experimenting/testing" the materials before I try on a nice stave. I assumed the yew was still soaking inside (despite the pin reading).  I will use a scale next time.   The merits of a moisture meter might be minimal for yew, however, since my ocean-spray has the pith removed I was pretty confident that the moisture level was consistent through-out the stave... (also had a hot-dry summer, and was stored outside in a very hot shed for  2 months. )


  The reason I ask about the 1/2-1/4 sawn log storage is that I've read a couple different sources that made the distinction to mention that they lay down their logs/staves. (there was no reason why, nor was there a warning to not stand them up).

  I'd rather keep them standing up for space, but I'm leaning towards laying them down.  Just the idea of tension/compression wood and the fact the yew are pretty much still alive (soft needles), are my reasons.  I've never seen any industrial timber products stored standing up (unless it's still in the forest).

   There weren't really any cracks (from drying) or kinks in my staves, the yew curved into a  gentle deflexed bow shape, almost as if it had taken set.  I switched the sides it stood on every 8 hours. 

  Not arguing, just discussing..


  Thanks

   
       
 

[Eric Krewson]

I often cut an arrow straight osage stave that has a mind of its own when it dries, added dogleg, propeller, deflex and reflex are common.

I store my staves standing up for the most part, I store bow blanks horizontally.

[wizardgoat]

In my experience yew will always deflex and wander if roughed out too dry.
I keep my yew in log for for 3 or 4 months, wait another 6 months before reducing the it to bow dimensions, then weigh it for another few months until it stops losing any weight for a week or 2.
I live in vancouver, so I suffer from wet wood problems too.
Even though ocean spray is a white wood, it can't really be sped dry.
seems to take at least a year, even if its belly is carved past the pith