How did people used to season/ dry wood in humid climates?

[Fox]

I have a hickory And HHB sapling that i have taken the bark off and it's out in a forest, and I've been working on it while im scouting.... leaving it there up in a tree somewhere when i got... But its mostly 60-70% humidity here so how did people used to make there bows in that humidity?


-Fox

[dylanholderman]

they probably just kept them in a storage building or maybe in a room that had a fire burning all the time if they had conceptualized drying wood out more than it would otherwise.

my gut is that people in the past were more worried about reliability than performance, not that performance wasn't a consideration for them just that it was secondary. also they probably did 90% of the work while it was still green, green wood is a lot easier to work than seasoned wood.

[Pat B]

If your saplings are still in the round either split or saw them in half lengthwise, seal the ends and back and store them in a dry place out of the wind and weather. They will hit equilibrium with the R/H in your area. In a month or so you can bring them in a controlled environment(inside house with AC and heat) and they will get down to a working R/H in a few months. Once you split them you can also get them to floor tiller stage and they dry in less time.

[PatM]

They  certainly didn't just leave them in the woods.  Some sort of protection from the elements goes a long way. 

[AndrewS]

May be this helps?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=8LX7xWeeHdU

[bradsmith2010]

i used to live in Tennessee and worked with some hickory, it was a bit challenging,,
osage was less effected by the moisture, and I used that more in that climate,,
I had a heat box for the hickory,, not saying that is the best way,, but that is how I would speed up the process for bow making,,

[Pat B]

Thad Beckum lives in south Georgia and it is quite humid there. He has been building selfbows for many years down there. Follow the video link above.  I've lived in coastal GA, coastal SC and now in the mountains of NC. The coastal areas are always humid and here in the mountains the summers are humid. I've built successful hickory and HHB selfbows in all three areas. I do have a hot box I use after the wood has reached equilibrium and have heat treated them with a heat gun. Thad's method dries and heat treated at the same time.
 Many of the Eastern Woodland bows were built with hickory so living in humid areas shouldn't prevent you from building a successful hickory or HHB selfbow.

[JackCrafty]

Materials for making bows and arrows were kept in lodges, including the sweat lodges. You can also store them under rock shelters or within the mouths of caves as long as there is good air flow. Winter is usually dryer and there is also the added benefit of keeping a stave warm next to the fire at the same time you're keeping yourself warm.

[Fox]

Yes i work hickory frequently and dry it in a humidity controlled room... my question is more of how did eastern woodland Indians store there bows while seasoning? Jack crafty that’s some good points about the sweat lodge and such I hadn’t thought about that... cause I was really wondering if they just make the bow when it gets to RH? Or had a method of drying it further ... maybe heat treating I suppose

[sleek]

Its not that big a deal. The  bow i built from a stave stored for 3 years in 80% humidity broke a world record.  Just build it with humidity in mind and make it a little wider to accommodate the weaker wood. Just store it indoors a year split and you should be fine. I did heat treat it a lot however, so that may have had an affect on things, but after a few days in the desert, it started to check so I know it had plenty of moisture still in it when I was shooting it. Another point of note is the boy was osage. I believe if you go wider with a heat treat you will be fine.

[bownarra]

Fire and any sealant.

[bassman]

I cut a large Hickory tree from my son's land, and split the logs in half. Stored them in the rafters of my garage to let them dry for  year. They bowed like a banana side ways. That was years ago. Got a few bows from them ,but struggled. Now I pick good 3 to 5 inch hickory saplings, and ax them down green to floor tiller, put them on  a form, line the tips with the middle of the handle by heating, and clamping. Easy to work with green. I then store them in my basement. After about a month I start heat treating the belly gently a couple of times a day. The belly ends up golden brown. Then I put them in a heat box with a fan for about a week. Tiller ,and finish,and hang them on the wall in my house. Best way I have found to deal with Hickory for a bow in western Pa. were we have high moisture. Their may be better ways to deal with Hickory ,but this method seems to work out ok for me.

[PatM]

Certainly in primitive environments staves were quick dried with fire and rapidly converted into bows.  You can find many references to this and even photographs of the process.

  There was a documented incident where an Apache was stripped of his weapons and released and an observer took notes of the process of re-arming.  It was a rapid process involving fire.
 
 Many old books make references to this '"savage" method being inferior to the white ways.  As you would expect.

[Morgan]

 Many old books make references to this '"savage" method being inferior to the white ways.  As you would expect.

There are still a good many, probably most, that still feel this way. And this about a group of people that lived in harmony with the land and allowed that land to provide everything they needed to live. I would love to have all the “savage” knowledge that has been lost to “progress”.

[Hawkdancer]

Morgan,
Plus 1 !  Change is constant - progress is optional!!
Hawkdancer