Seasoning wood

[Badger]

  I actually do have a test I can perform on one of my older osage bows that have gained some weight. I can narrow them down and see if they take set. I usually keep them right on the edge of set when I am building them. If I can anrrow an older one down to drop weight with no ill results it might not be conclusive but would be another indicator.

[JackCrafty]

When I was in college, I studied the properties of materials as part of my Architectural Engineering program.  I didn't complete the program, but it was a good experience that has helped me in my woodworking.  I believe it's good to think of wood in terms of "seasoned" and "unseasoned".  I prefer seasoned wood too.  But I think the issue is stress, not age.

When dimensions are equal, wood that has been forced dried is stressed more than wood that has been dried slowly.  In other words, more can go wrong with wood when dried quickly than when dried slowly.



I find it hard to believe there has not been a scientific study into timber as it ages?

Wood is probably the most tested material we know.  Engineers have intensely studied the properties of wood for decades.  There are mountains of data.  So, what is the conclusion?  Each piece of wood needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis.  But, in general, the less stress you place on wood, the stronger it remains and the longer it lasts.  Will it increase in strength over time?  Yes, in some cases.  Will it decrease in strength over time?  Yes, in some cases.

[PatM]

If Jawge uses mostly Red Oak then he's not using a whitewood. Red Oak has a large heartwood and most boards are all heartwood.

[Buckeye Guy]

Clint
Did you fall asleep reading that ?
Tell us the skinny of it please !!
Then look up the cryogenic treating of wood and tell us how that applies to us !
Fun stuff
Keep the wheels turning folks !
Another chapter for the book !!!

[Badger]

  Buckeye, you got me thinking about something when you said another chapter in the book. It's pretty obvious none of us have any conclusive evidence to make a real solid statement about seasoning beyond opinion based on personnal experience. A lot of what most of us have accepted is based on personnal experience with no real hard testing. When I got into making bows what kept me comming back was not all the answers I could find on line but the questions I could find and then try to figure out the answers to. A good chapter in the book might be one that offers questions without answers. I could easily come up with a long list of stuff I have opinions on that I really couldn't prove at this point. I am going to give this one some thought. The questions are all that keep me going and I seem to never run out of them.

[Buckeye Guy]

Yes sir !!
I typed out a reply but deleted it cause you only want a chapter and not a whole book !
Guy

[Badger]

  Thats funny, I found myself doing the same thing. It really could be a full book and the kind a lot of guys could contribute to. A good way to tie chapters together. How different people identify, deal with, various problems we address.

[Buckeye Guy]

The fun loving side of the addiction to bow making ?

[Gordon]

Dry is dry no matter how you get there. But I know this argument will go on as long as people scrap wood to make bows 

[George Tsoukalas]

I have made bows from log staves and board staves of red oak. Boards were kiln dried. Log staves seasoned for a year.
There are other deciding factors at work. Boards have flat backs. Log staves do not. Comparison is difficult. Hard to say. Come to think of it.
Anyway,  as far as weight gain is concerned much depends on moisture as we all know. Not willing to ascribe weight gains to seasoning.
I have made arrows from seasoned and just kiln dried. Hundreds and hundreds.
No difference there either.
Sorry to rain on everyone's parade.
Do what makes ya happy. You will likely make better bows from woods that you have confidence in.
Jawge

[Eric Garza]

If Jawge uses mostly Red Oak then he's not using a whitewood. Red Oak has a large heartwood and most boards are all heartwood.

True, he's not. I guess I should have been more particular about the words I used. I should have differentiated between woods known to be rot resistant (including osage heart wood, yew, and juniper and eastern red cedar heartwood) and woods known to be much less rot resistant, many of which are sapwoods but also heartwoods too. I think red oak, whether sapwood or heartwood, would fall into this latter category of woods not particularly known for resistance to rot or deterioration, as would any sort of pine.

Maybe this is why George sees little difference between forced dry wood and slow dried wood?

Just a hypothesis...

[blackhawk]

Green wet wood,quick dried wood,or seasoned wood who cares...its all still inferior to carbon n wheels   

This will never be solved....even if you think you come up with conclusive evidence one way or another;for every believer there will be ten skeptics who don't believe refuting your evidence saying such n such wasn't done right or yada yada yada etc....its human nature to doubt anything we haven't witnessed firsthand...

[Joec123able]

Green wet wood,quick dried wood,or seasoned wood who cares...its all still inferior to carbon n wheels   

Lmao that was pretty funny

 

[PatM]

I have repeatedly mentioned the phenomenon that wood has of gradually shrinking over time through moisture cycling. That's part of the key to seasoning.
 The wood shrinking increases the density of a given piece of material.
 That's why your tool handles get loose through the years despite the wood being 'kiln dried" before being made into an initially snugly fitting handle.

[bubbles]

Are these bows that have gained weight after many years being shot regularly or are they hanging on the wall most of the time?  Didn't Paul Comstock say something about using older wooden bows - leave it braced for 6 hours, then pull a bunch of  times to half draw, then slowly work up to full draw.  The belly fibers have slowly reverted to an uncompressed state during long periods of not being used.  Essentially the belly becomes stronger and offers more resistance to the back, which would be an increase in poundage  - could this be happening on a small scale in these cases? A bow that's not being used regularly gaining a pound a year due to it's belly slowly bouncing back to where it was before it became a bow? Just a thought.