So is hickory a pain to keep moisture down

[Tradslinger]

can you keep the moisture down in hickory by sealing it with something? seems like the Native Americans used various oils and such on their bows. or does sealing the wood just slow down the intake of moisture for hickory? here in western Arkansas, the humidity changes and can be very high in the summer. I'm just wondering if it is worth the trouble or should I pursue aquiring more Osage. I am mainly trying to build one good hunting bow that will last a few years. I am only drawing 26 inches and hope for about a 42# max bow. I just don't know if I want to mess with making a heat box to keep the moisture level down in a hickory bow. I had thought that heat treating a hickory bow would slow the intake of moisture down but I may be totally wrong.

[JW_Halverson]

Hickory will suck moisture through just about every finish you can think of, but at varying speeds. And take into account the slower it takes IN the moisture, the slower it will GIVE IT BACK!

I would recommend woods that are less prone to breathing moisture in and out, woods like osage and black locust. Both of those can be found in Arkansas as well.

[RyanY]

No finish is perfect for keeping moisture out of a bow entirely. You’re best off with some type of top coat finish like poly or an epoxy. I hear some of the newer epoxy finishes are extremely good at keeping moisture out of wood. An oil alone won’t cut it. Whether or not it’s worth messing with is a personal choice. I think if you can get the hickory dry and seal it it’s worth a shot while you’re trying to acquire other staves.

[Yooper Bowyer]

I understand the best way to deal with moisture problems is to just build wide and thin, though this can lead to excessive mass.  (To be fair I usually build narrow bows and cook the daylights out of the belly if I think it will help)

[gutpile]

Im in ga and when i seal my hickory bows I dont seem to have any issues with them.. I just use a spar varathene and keep them in basement..take them out hunting or shooting all day.. then just put them back inside.. its the building process when they are so vulnerable to moisture..IMO..gut

[bradsmith2010]

do you think the heat treating process I keep hearing about reduces the effect of moisture on hickory,,

[Eric Krewson]

Darin Putnam fire pit heat treated a bunch of hickory and kept really good after the fact data on the moisture migration, perhaps he will chime in.

I have made a bunch of hickory bows and have seen first hand the performance change from a good dry day to a week or so of rain.

I don't think I have sealed a hickory bow with the epoxy acetone that Jay Massey preferred. It is the most impervious to moisture migration than any other finish I have used. I used it mostly on osage and arrows, an arrow could be lost under the grass for months and still be good with this finish.

[StickMark]

Your concerns are real. I used a hard core marine spar varnish on a hickory bow I used in Missouri. It held its draw weight. Spray-on spar urethane, Helmsman brand, has gone on some bows, over tung oil or Tru-oil (clear satin finish helps reduce sheen). This is not primitive, but neither are seasons, buck or doe restrictions, etc...

My first bow was hickory. Designed at 44# @ 27", I found the monsoonal Arizona moisture and humidity dropped it into the 38,39 # range when coupled with the fact with my actual hunting draw is 26" (and the set it took). I missed a lot that backcountry season. Shot low, a lot; my friends still abuse me over that summer.

I "dry out" my bows above the campfire or camp stove when hunting in wetter conditions, just enough to get warm-to-touch.

[Tradslinger]

I have seen Osage only twice in my life that I know of in the woods around here. As for black locust, the only one that I knew was a locust was Honey Locust and this only in a couple of places. My getting out and searching for wood days are over. The hickory was harvested about fifteen feet from a dirt road. A botched operation on my right foot left me crippled to go with other health issues and so my walking days are limited to very short range. There used to be fences everywhere around here that the wire was long gone but the osage posts were still there. The black locust would be nice to try as well, it just sounds good. maybe some day I will get some more Osage. The Osage that had been given me had already been cut with a bandsaw and a ring chased (but knots not respected). I would like to get a stave that needs to be debarked etc and let the wood do the deciding. it is what it is. but I am having second thoughts about the hickory for a main bow.

[StickMark]

It could work.  I would get more opinions.

[Morgan]

Moisture will affect your hickory bows, but I believe it is exaggerated for most casual archers. Get it dry in a heat box, and keep it dry while you work your bow, put a finish on it and keep it inside in the climate control and I doubt you will be unhappy. You should try it and decide for yourself if it makes a good bow for you, my money is that it will.

[Fox]

I made my friend a bow and it didn’t take much more then 1/2” set, in the summer here it’s 80% humidity, and we don’t have any climate control in our house. When I made the bow, I cut the tree ruffed out this stave and put it in a solar kiln For 2 weeks and made a bow... it’s probably the best bow I’ve made

Oh, and I heated beeswax and oil into while heat treating, then I put 5 coats of shellac on it.

[Pat B]

If you keep your bows in your climate controlled house during high humidity and low humidity for that matter you can maintain a reasonable MC

[Yooper Bowyer]

They make climate controlled houses?!?!  Also, what is it they call air conditioning? It seems to be pretty rare up here. 

[darinputman]

I tried fire hardening hickory and applying several coats of the Massey finish but substituting denatured alcohol for acetone in hopes of slowing down moisture absorption in hickory selfbows this pass summer. Although I was very pleased with the finished bows 2-3 months in my shop with high humidity still affected the cast of my hickory bows. However after a couple weeks in heat box they returned to there normal selves.
   Just in case anyone is interested  I kept up with 4 bows I built and after a few months stored in high humidity shop the moisture content had shot up to an average of 9% on back and 7% on belly of said bows my speed suffered. I put them in the heat box untill I had a reading of 6% on back and 5% on belly and gained back an average of 8 fps. I put them in the box for a few days longer and moisture content was 5% on back and 4% on belly and gained back an average of 6-7fps.
 Thats an average of around 14 to 15 fps lost on my hickory bows due to moisture absorption, but came right back after drying bows in heat box.
    That being said I agree with every one else here build them and keep them in a controlled environment as hickory makes a great bow. Worst case scenerio dry it out if it takes on any moisture.  I set out to see if I could slow moisture absorption in my style of hickory selfbows while still being able to store them in my shop during humid Alabama summers and this was my results.
   My style of bow is not wide and thin, but are about 13/8 at the fades to about 11/8 about 8" from the tips which are about 3/8. Wide and thin could change everything but can't speak to that as I have not tried.