Cold and humidity

[Allyn T]

My house is unreasonably dry right now so my bow is drying out too much. Will it hurt my bow to store it in the garage and work on it cold?  It's about 20 degrees in there but the humidity is higher.

[Pat B]

You would be better off in the higher humidity. I don't think the low temps would be bad. My basement workshop is in the low 40s and it has never adversely effected my bow work, my fingers and toes maybe but not my bows.

[gutpile]

is it starting to check?.. did you seal back and ends?.. is this your hickory ?... If you roughed out and left plenty of thickness on belly.. just seal back and ends with something and let belly be your exit point on moisture... but your garage would be fine.. I would still seal it though.. with something you can sand off with no problems.. gut

[Allyn T]

It's not checking, it is hickory I'm in the tillering stages right now. Every time I put it up for the day I weigh it and every time I go to work on it the next day it's lost a little weight I just don't want it too dry. It lost about a tenth of an oz overnight. My moisture meter is getting low to mid 7% in the limbs so I'm afraid it'll break. Sounds like I can leave it in the garage though to even it out. Thanks Pat and Gut

[gutpile]

I might of already asked this but where are you to get hickory that low that fast... you definitely don't want to go below 8%.. it will soak up the moisture though if its available I dont care where you are... gut

[Allyn T]

I'm in Missouri, I cut the tree February 2020 and this stave I debarked in December. When I roughed it out on the band saw late January it was reading about 10% on the belly

[bradsmith2010]

Allyn, the stave you sent me has been about 8%,I think it was 10 when it got here,,, its a little lower today,, I have actually spritz it with water,, to keep it hydrated,, and put in room with little heat, but it is real dry inside now,,the handle is testing 6% now, so i will spritz, before tillering any
when I put the sinew on it, of course it soaks up some moisture, but I dont think it would hurt it to wipe it withi wet paper towel or something after you work on it to keep some moisture in it,,

[gutpile]

that would never happen here in Ga...it wouldn't get below 15% outside no matter how long ...  gut

[Tradslinger]

I took out my only staves, a slim osage and a little wider one from inside the house and put them in the garage. They had been inside all winter and I too am fearful of them being too dry. I had an osage bow to break and it was around 6 on the moisture when it broke. my meter is not the best and the osage was pretty hard wood. I drilled tiny holes for the probes but they didn't help very much. it is very cold right now but it is also pretty wet so maybe my hickory will be okay. 

[Allyn T]

Brad I will try that. Gut the staves have been stored in my basement all year so the pretty climate controlled. Trad if the hickory is fresh you won't have to worry about it being to dry anytime soon

[willie]

I'm not sure you could get hickory too dry for tillering, unless you were in a desert.  If you tiller when the wood is dry, and later when it's more humid, the bow will loose poundage and cast.

I think the problems come when a bow that was tillered in a damper climate is taken to a dry place and over strained when drawn . 

if you are stringing up a bow that has not been shot in a while, and you are thinking 'wow, this seems stiffer than I remember' ....

[Allyn T]

If it loses poundage and cast does it gain it back again or does it damage it permanently

[bradsmith2010]

   thats kind of a tricky question,, not sure there is one answer,, poundage might vary with different moisture content,, bow is less likely to take set when dry, if it does take set because too much mositure, I think most the time it wont go back,, that bein said,, sinew bows can loose poundage and then when dry out, regain reflex and poundage, so its tricky,
   if you keep your bow at reasonable humidity, it should not be an issure,, if your on a camping trip and your bow is in the rain every day for a week, and you are keeping it strung to hunt, it might take more set than a bow that is just shot on sunny days for fun,,  osage seems to be resistant to moisture,, but my hunting bow I have had for 25 years follows the string more than most would like,, but still shoots nice,, its not a rocket launcher,,but at 58#@28,,, thats as much as I need,,,

[darinputman]

I keep all my bows in unheated shop year round in NW Alabama, never had a problem due to cold as far as I know. With my hickory selfbows I like to get them as dry as I can before tillering. I made a few this summer heat treated over coals they were all well below 6%. A few months later I noticed the cast had suffered a little, checked the moisture content and sure enough it had taken on moisture,  put them in the heat box for a couple weeks till moisture content was back down and cast returned. My experience with hickory is the dryer the better. Osage doesn't seem to matter once tillered.

[Allyn T]

So I need to make a hunting bow and a summer shooting bow : )