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Yew stave

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wood_bandit99:
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?

adb:
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.

Del the cat:
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

Dances with squirrels:
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.

toomanyknots:

--- 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?

--- End quote ---

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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