Why did my bow take set?

[eastcreekarchery]

The black locust bow i finished and am currently painting has taken a little over three inches of set. Why does set happen? Does black locust take a lot of set? Was my wood not seasoned properly? I just want to figure out how to minimize it in the future. Thanks!

[Allyn T]

Your wood wasn't seasoned, you said you started the bow only a week or 2 after you split the log

[eastcreekarchery]

Yes but the log was laying on a pile for a bit. I rly dont know how long its been since the tree was cut. Also just a general question about why set can happen.

[TimBo]

Logs can take years to dry, so you have to start the clock when you split it.  It does sound like the wood wasn't dry, especially if the set is evenly distributed.

[PatM]

Because wood cells get squashed.    Many people also believe hey get stretched as well.

[bassman]

Locust is not that great in compression to begin with compared to Osage, and if it was not dry that is what can happen with nearly all woods..My limited experience with Locust says the back should be trapped,and generous heat treating to the belly on a form with 3 to 4 inches of initial reflex. I am using that method with 4 Hickory bows right now. The first one is finished. I used deep repeated heat treating with a heat gun. Then it went to a fire hardening pit. EXPERIMENTING. I haven't shot it a lot yet ,but right now it is holding 2 ,and a half inches of reflex., and it springs back to it's original shape when I release the string immediately. When it breaks in I will shoot it through  a chrony to see the end results.

[Allyn T]

Wood loses water about an inch a year from every exposed surface. So in log form it can only lose water from the ends, even a log sitting 10 years would only be dry 10 inches from each end, and that doesn't even account for RH. If the RH of your area is high the moisture content would never get to bow making standards. As far as set goes, high moisture makes the wood weaker but less likely to break, I think it's every 1% drop in moisture content in wood equals around 6% increase in strength. So wet wood is less resistant to compression

[PatM]

A log  still dries through all surfaces, even with bark on.

[stuckinthemud]

There is a difference between seasoned and wet. The wood can be seasoned and still be too wet to work with and vica versa, it needs to be both seasoned, and dry, check the internet for 'free' and 'bound' moisture in timber

[gutpile]

bet it tilled itself too.. wood was wet.... gut

[George Tsoukalas]

Sounds like your wood was too wet still. Jawge

[M2A]

Local lumber mills don't want locust...every so often I get a locust log from the loggers in their loads of seconds sold to process as fire wood. If I split one of those into staves I treat it just like if I cut down a tree, even if I know it was cut 3 months ago. Larger trees cut late fall may even leaf out next spring, before they run out of energy. I suppose if I were to hurry a locust build I'd remove bark and sapwood, seal back. Let it sit for 5 months then chase ring, seal back, floor tiller and let sit 2 months in the house. Just need to keep heat gun away from the fades on a stiff handle or it may check there. That worked for me in the past when I did not have much material to work with.
Mike       

[druid]

I work a lot with black locust and from my expirience set is sometimes rather caused by flaw in the tillering and improper design than moisture on first place.

[bassman]

Ya that is 2 more ways to get set, and if the wood is not dry set is inevitable with  that combo. I have been their ,and done that more times that I would like to mention.

[Selfbowman]

Yes been there . Wood but no patients. It’s tough. If you like this game i would start my stave pile to around 40 staves if you build 10-15 bows a year. Took me buying 20 staves a year and in three years I had good dry seasoned wood. . In the mean time go to mojam ,ojam ,tenn classic  and buy them as dry as you can get. Good luck in your bow interest. Arvin