I'm a beliver in pignut hickory

[Danzn Bar]

I know that some of you guys may think that I am working with an inferior bow wood but I must say Hickory is very tough stuff,  I got a 68" long stave to floor tillered and put a about 3" of reflex in it with some dry heat.  I have always understood that hickory worked very well and I have some experience with bending Osage with dry heat. But this stuff does not work well with dry heat.  I tried to put some reflex (recurve) into the tips and the belly broke across the grain after a very long time heating, even after heavily scorching.  So the stave ended up a little over 64" long.  I shorten the stiff handle to only 8 1/2" long.  The width at the fades is 1 7/8" and the tips are about 1/2" wide. I tillered the bow to about 60# @ 26".  I was looking for about 55 @ 28". I notice a bad hinge showing up about 6" from one of the tips.  I had to cut the stave to 60", Still wanting at least 55# @ 28"again I added alittle reflex to the tips and added some tip reinforcement to the belly.  At 60" the string angle was not what I would like.  The bow seam to stack the last inch or so.  After some carefull tillering and about 50 shots, the bow ended up with a little less than 1" of string follow 58# @ 27.5".  This was my second try at hickory, the first was not dry enough and ended up kind sluggest.  I need about 100 more shots through it before I can call it finished.

My question is:  I live in a humidy area.  I keep the bow dry and in a dry inviorment during the building/tillering stage.  I want to shoot it in (2-300 shots) before I apply the final finish.  Will shellach be Ok for now and then for the final finish a polyurthane?

 

               

[steve b.]

I think so.

[Weylin]

Should be fine. The finish is really there just to keep water off the wood. None of them stop your bow from matching the RH eventually. More important than the finish is where the bow is kept. If it is kept in a dry place all the time then you can take it out shooting for a whole day or more in 100% humidity and it will be just fine as long as you get it back inside.

[hunterbob]

I read in Dean's book were pariffin is one of the best choices for keeping moisture out.
Never tried it on hickory. but I really like useing it on osage.

[BowEd]

You bet I've fooled a lot with hickory here and it is top shelf in my book.Adapts great to heat treating being the kicker on it.I seal mine with a lacquer finsh called precatalized magnalac.Good stuff.Put on about as thick as poly.It dries very fast and you have to keep your brush tip in some lacquer thinner in between coats.Harder than poly too.I put three coats on most times with a brush.

[Pat B]

I've never thought of hickory as inferrior. It is one of my favorite bow woods. You do have to consider moisture with hickory but keeping your hickory bows in a controled environment will help with that. If you have a hot box keep your hickory bow and staves you are working on it in there. If not you house with central heat and a/c will keep most of the moisture out.
  There in no finish that will keep mosture out of any wood. All you can do is slow the hygroscopic rate.  If your hickory bow feels mushy when you go to shoot it you might try a different bow until your hickory has better conditions.

[blackhawk]

Well let me be the first hater... ....if I have to "baby" my bow then I don't want it to be my bow,and its at the bottom of my list for selfbows. And I've broken hickory twice in tension (from different trees),and it isn't as bullet proof as a lot of folks say it is. Its just another whitewood,but takes more "babying" it from the humidity. There's much better available wood to me that I don't have to be as concerned with,and ones that I can take out for days on end in a high humid climate without worrying about my bow going mushy. Just my two cents

[rossfactor]

Shagbark Hickory is stronger in tension than Osage. Meaning it has a higher modulus of rupture. 

Gabe

[Josh B]

Well let me be the first hater... ....if I have to "baby" my bow then I don't want it to be my bow,and its at the bottom of my list for selfbows. And I've broken hickory twice in tension (from different trees),and it isn't as bullet proof as a lot of folks say it is. Its just another whitewood,but takes more "babying" it from the humidity. There's much better available wood to me that I don't have to be as concerned with,and ones that I can take out for days on end in a high humid climate without worrying about my bow going mushy. Just my two cents

Lol!  You may have to baby it out east.  However,  where I live, it will do anything Osage will do!  No babying required at all! Seriously!  Unfortunately, it doesn't grow here.   Lucky for me, my ol buddy Soy hooked me up with a big old pile of it.  Josh