Main Discussion Area > Bows
Moisture in a bow
bassman211:
Those probes only sink into the belly wood about a 1/16 of an inch give, or take. That doesn't tell the whole story when the limb is 1/4 inch thick, or so in the area that you are checking the moisture content in. If you see it starting to take set put it on reflex form ,and heat treat the belly it is another option.
superdav95:
Correct bassman. I’ve noticed this also. The meter is a good rough idea of where the wood is at FYI Mike my shop is quite dry right now and is not heated at the moment. We are quite cold and dry relative humidity here right now. Here’s a few pics of stave readings I took with my meter. The reading that is at 15.5% is your stave you traded with me. The second pic is an Osage stave that has been drying a couple years at least. The others are all hickory ranging from 5-6% mc. I do have some other hickory staves that are are around the 10% + range but they were cut earlier this year and need more drying. The end grain is where I used the probes. The sides of the stave often won’t give any reading. Hope this helps.
Muskyman:
Dave, I’m getting close to the same reading on the staves I have stored in my shed. This piece is the split that I had tossed into my fire wood pile then decided to look at it again. The one with the tiny rings. It was only a inch, inch and a half at its thickest part. It was testing 8 to 10 before I started working on it.. Haven’t tested it in a few weeks but have been keeping it inside my house. I’m thinking about clamping it to my reflex form and heating it. Might rewatch the Mark St Louis video on it before I do, if I do. I shouldn’t worry to much about it but I would like for it to turn out to be a good bow. I did get some rawhide in the mail the other day. So I’ve got a backing for it. Might make a different reflex form, the one I have has about 3 1/2 to 4 inches reflex.. I might make one that’s got about 2-21/2 in it
superdav95:
Mike I think you’d be fine with the form you have as you will loose about half of that after tiller generally. Your preference though. Still should turn out a good bow.
Muskyman:
Probably true enough Dave. I brought my moisture meter into the house and checked my stave/bow. I got one or two readings on the belly of the limbs at around 6-6.5 and on the handle it was 8-10. My meter is a general, same as yours. Probably will clamp it down and heat it then let it sit on the form for a day. Then start tillering it and see what happens. Thought about fire hardening it but, not like I would a hickory bow. Although I’ve got a couple of those I can toss over the charcoal too.
Going to need some arrows for these bows also. I’ve got a spline test kit of arrows.. They are PO cedar
I have been looking at the Doug fur arrows..Probably will get a fletching jig this winter too, and other miscellaneous things I need. I used to make arrows a long time ago. They were aluminum but shouldn’t be much different. I’ve been thinking if it turns out pretty good I might airbrush some kind of design on the rawhide backing. I’ve got some really nice airbrushes I use for painting fishing lures. Might have to spray leather dye through them but that’s okay. Just have to play with it.
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