So many people have poo-poo'd me over the years when I tell them to go slow waiting to get the last of this added moisture back out of the finished bow. Some of them should have known better because they arent new to making bows.
I was an acolyte of the "Sinew Everything Cult" when I was new to making bows. I'd get the sinew dried for a week or two and then go to finish tillering. A few months later the tiller would be all out of whack and I'd have to re-tiller all over again, resulting in a lower than desired draw weight. Someone in here told me to wait longer, so I waited about 6 weeks after sinewing. Not much of a better result, I still needed to retiller yet again about 5-6 months later. Eventually my thick skull wore a hole from running into the same brick wall over and over again and I started leaving a sinewed bow to cure for at least 6 months. Whenever possible, I lay the bow out in the sun on warm days to speed the process, sometimes storing it in vehicle parked in the sun to mimic a heat box. I cannot imagine how much longer a proper curing out would take living in a more humid climate!
