Moisture Content brain fizzle

[Don W]

I didn't want to hijack the "Alone" thread, but I've been struggling with this same thought lately. It's my latest "over think it until your brain fries" dilemma.

Interesting thread, guys.  I really have to try osage one of these days.  It's interesting reading Jim Hamm's article in the latest PA mag about native bows; seems like the majority of eastern bows were made of hickory.  Surely they didn't just quit hunting in the rain, did they?  I wonder how they got around hickory's tendency to turn into pasta when it's damp out.


T

Here where I live the average relative humidity is around 70%. That means keeping anything under 9.5-10% is going to require some tap dancing. (based on the chart on page 30 of vol 4 TTB)



Searching this forum I see this multiple times

I like 6-8% for hickory and 8-10% for all other woods.

Jawge

Even 8% is going to be some trickery.

I suppose I could get there with a dehumidifier in my warm box and bow closet, but that seems to have other issues like hunting somewhere for a week, etc.

How much better is Hophornbeam? Ash? Oak?

Don't you hate the new guys!

[Pat B]

Most of the Eastern Woodland bows were either hickory or locust and the eastern US is the humid side of the country. First off, if you store your hickory bows in your house with AC the R/H should be relatively low. Also, tempering and sealing well should help out too. And shooting a hickory bow in the rain isn't the problem. Water will run off any decent finish on a bow. It is water vapor that penetrates the wood and it does it at a pretty slow rate.Even a few days of hunting in the rain shouldn't be a problem as long as you wipe the bow down well after each hunt, unbrace it as soon after the hunt as possible and don't brace until you are actually hunting. A treatment of paste car wax before the hunt will repel the moisture also.

[StickMark]

Here is a "for what is worth" type of quasi science experience/ just some more N=1 data.

Recently took a hickory bow, with sinew and rawhide backing, out to New Mexico, near Taos. Sangre de Christo Mountains. Finish is coat of tung oil, and TB3 under thin rawhide. Bow finished in Tucson May and June, RH around 6-13%.
Also, I took a bow scale and tiller stick.

Rain every day but one, majority cloudy every day; higher RH, 70% at times I guess, higher even with rainfall, and I found the bow lost around a pound. (initially, it weighs in heavier than after a few pulls or shots, so I think that shooting affects it more than the RH, at least in this scenario of leaving it in the car, five days out there in mountains). Some bouts of rain along the subsequent Chama River camp, but also that is average 31% or so RH, in monsoon season. No big draw weight loss there either.