I was told when I started making hickory stave bows to ruff the bow down & let it sit on the wall for 2 months at 50% RH & that worked for me , but did another hickory bow with the same method & it seemed to still be a bit green so I let them set longer & I also hot box hickory now for a week after use a simple electric blanket as a hot box the one I'm working on this morning has been curing for over a year and hot boxed for a week, some times this bow making is hurry up & wait that's why I have 4 or 5 bows in the works at the same time so when one is setting I can work on another , hickory is a great bow wood when cured !