Hickory Find Continued

[DennisM]

I posted Thursday about getting a hickory log out of the woods that afternoon. After we split it in half it was about 3:30 and the heat was brutal.  My son in law and I carried each half out to truck 600 yds we paced it.  Well I just Finished processing it to staves.  I got 10 good staves.  They are all 77" long and run from 2" to 3 1/2" wide at the center.  I had one run out on me, its in the barbeque pile, Most of them are very straight some have about a 15 deg. twist.  There were only two knots I had to deal with and they were under 15-20 growth rings, it was a very clear log.  Now If they were only dry.

[briarjumper12]

Nice haul!

[Badly Bent]

Thats some really nice looking hickory Dennis, doesn't looks like a single one in the bunch that isn't practically perfect
your gonna get some nice bows out of that.
Greg

[JonW]

you done good there Dennis. With hickory I like to saturate the wood with pesticide to keep the cooties out. They really like the stuff. Also keepthemas dry as possible. Hickory like to rot very easily. KEEP IT GOODUNDRY

[lesken2011]

Nice batch of wood, there, for sure!!

[crooketarrow]

  Nows the time to reflex those staves. Just put between 2 saw horses and either hang cinder blocks in the middle or I hatch strap them down to the floor. Draw them down to about 2 inchs of reflex and leave season. Flatten out a spot on each end so it will set level.
   IF YOU CUT THOSE ENDS ON THE RIGHT ANGLE YOU CAN EVEN GET RID OF THAT STWIST.The more your cut the STAVE down the easyer it is to(draw) ratch them down. I don't cut a stave with out reflexing them anymore. Why not start with the best stave you can. I've got at lease 20 HICKORY STAVES I cut back in the winter. REFLEXED AND SEASONING. You can do any wood.
   YOU'VE ALL READY DID THAT MUCH WORK. DO A LITTLE MORE AND THOSE  #1 STAVES WILL BE #1 GREAT STAVES TO START WITH.
  I only knew one person to do this it was my friend CROOKET ARROW and he did it for over 50 years. He taught me in the late 80's when I met him. I've been preaching this even since I joined this site. I do'nt know if anyone has smarten up or not. But it sure helps with set,speed and cast of the bow.
 PAT ONCE SAID TO ONE OF MY POSTS. HE SAID TO ME, WE ALL DON'T GET TO USE GOOD STAVES. I SAY WHY, NOT NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU ARE. YOUR BOWS ONLY AS GOOD THE STAVE YOU START WITH.
  Any old stave will make a bow but it dos'nt mean you have to use it.
  IT'S A NO BRAINER TO ME.

[DennisM]

Crooketarrow

I well defiantly try the reflex technique.  Some of them have already pulled a 3" natural reflex.  Today I was gonna rip some belly wood off and bug spray. One question, can you explain how to cut them to remove twist

Thanks
Dennis

[tom sawyer]

I'll take that one on the far left, thanks.

The first bow wood tree I ever cut was a pignut hickory, pretty good stuff.  Kind of a pain to split.  I think I still have one stave in the stave pile.