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Offline wood_bandit99

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Yew stave
« on: September 07, 2013, 11:14:52 am »
I have a yew stave that I'm thinking about making a English war bow  out of. It was fresh cut and sealed July 1st, 2013. When should I take the bark off and when should I work it into a bow? It sits in my house with 20% humidity and the air conditioner on and it gets 74 degrees up there. How long will it take to dry?
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Offline adb

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2013, 12:14:07 am »
I have premium yew staves that have been seasoning for years. I would wait at least a year. If it's truly a warbow quality stave, don't ruin it by being impatient.
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Offline Del the cat

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2013, 03:36:12 am »
I give mine a year in a draughty garage. I take the bark off after about 9 months and rough it down a bit. This help accelerate the final seasoning without risking it drying too quick. After that I periodically have a look and maybe take it down a tad more. By the time it's had a year it's ready for serious work.
I think doing it like that will get it seasoned better than leaving it a year and then reducing it.
I'm not sure about aircon and modern draught proof houses...
Del
« Last Edit: September 12, 2013, 04:03:46 am by Del the cat »
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Offline Dances with squirrels

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2013, 07:29:56 am »
20% relative humidity in the room? Or 20% moisture content in the wood?

20% RH is a very dry environment for fresh cut yew... or ANY yew. If you dry it too fast it may check, and if you dry it too much it can explode violently when you try to bend it. Been there on both accounts, unfortunately.
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Offline toomanyknots

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2013, 01:59:48 pm »
Quote from: Wood_Bandit99 on September 07, 2013, 11:14:52 am
I have a yew stave that I'm thinking about making a English war bow  out of. It was fresh cut and sealed July 1st, 2013. When should I take the bark off and when should I work it into a bow? It sits in my house with 20% humidity and the air conditioner on and it gets 74 degrees up there. How long will it take to dry?

20% humidity would ruin it and cause all kinds of warping and checking I would think. 40 - 60 is really the most common for humidity levels. 20 is really really dry. Even 30 - 40 will kill guitars, cracking sound boards and making bridges fly off and whatnot.
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"The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow-
 the upper part is pressed down,
 the lower part is raised up,
 the part that has too much is reduced,
 the part that has too little is increased."

- Tao Te Ching, 77, A new translation by Victor H. Mair

Offline adb

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2013, 03:11:45 pm »
The RH in the winter where I live is 10%. Bugger all I can do about it. I make sure I seal the ends and back of my staves, but I've had no warping or deep checking issues.
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Offline wood_bandit99

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2013, 04:46:14 pm »
Rh in a room. It, I checked it, is at 36% right now. The winters here it is more like 20%
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Yew and osage, BEST. WOODS. EVER! Shoot straight my friends!!!

Offline adb

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2013, 05:07:09 pm »
And the extremely low RH in the winter is why I don't make bows from Dec - Mar.
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Offline wood_bandit99

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2013, 05:15:14 pm »
That makes sense. I will do that. But how long should I wait to take off the bark?
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Yew and osage, BEST. WOODS. EVER! Shoot straight my friends!!!

Offline unkieford

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2013, 01:55:14 am »
Not trying to derail the OP, just trying to learn more....
     In my lovely (cough) sonoran desert home, we've seen RH as low as 2%. (No, that's not a mis-key) I've been told that it's simply not physically possible for it to go any lower than that. We can also see it up in the mid 90% range during monsoon season.
It makes for amusing wood working conditions.
It also explains (in part) why I have never bought any raw staves to work on. They might very well be wrecked before I can even unwrap 'em.
Anybody have a way to maintain humidity for storage, short of a walk in humidor?

---Ford---
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Offline sleek

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2013, 04:58:18 am »
If you use a clothes drier, duct its exhaust into an air tight room and keep your staves in that. If you do laundry often enough the humid air from the drier will do your staves fine. If nothing else, keep em in the bathroom. Hot showers keep it humid.
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Offline adb

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Re: Yew stave
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2013, 10:29:36 am »
Quote from: Wood_Bandit99 on September 08, 2013, 05:15:14 pm
That makes sense. I will do that. But how long should I wait to take off the bark?

Don't remove the bark until just before you start making the bow.
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