Ironwwod stave?

[whitewoodshunter]

I just cut my first Ironwood stave today. The wood is beautiful.I roughed the stave out and floor tillered it and put in a jig to induce reflex, 3 inches. About how long should the stave dry before further tillering?

[Pat B]

You can work it down to floor tiller stage now without stressing it(tips moving 4" or so). I would give it a month first then see how things are going. You should be able to tell by the resistance to tools and the sound of the worked wood whether it is dry enough to stress.  The resilience of the stave will give you insight to its dryness also.  Pat

[Kegan]

As Pat said, dry time varies. Once the roughed out, floor tillered bow starts to feel light in the hand, you can test it by bracing it about 4" on your tillering tree (about 1" brace height for 3" of reflex). Dry wood will faithfully return to its original position, where green wood will start to follow the string. For flatbows, I've also roughed them out and floor tillered them. After drying, I work them down so they bend under the same amount of pressure. After a while the bow wil remain the same stiffness during floor tillering and will need no more reduction.