Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: mutt on August 27, 2020, 08:51:07 am
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I cut about a 3" hickory 7 days ago for a couple kids bows. Split it, removed the bark, sealed the ends and clamped the two halves to a 2x4 with a little reflex and they have been sitting in my airconditioned garage.
I ordered a moisture meter and got it yesterday. Wherever I check the moisture on either stave I can't get a reading much above 10%
Is this normal? does that mean they are dry enough to make bows already?
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where are you from has a lot to do with it.. hardly believe it has dropped below 12 in 7 days... takes months inside in south east...gut
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I'm in WV its been hot and humid here since end of June.
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Those things are of limited use in bow making.
That reading is simply for the surface wood, which may well be 10%. What matters from a bow making point of view is how dry the stave is in the middle :)
The simplest way to check your staves moisture loss is to weigh them. As the water leaves they become lighter :) Keep a check on the weight until it stabalises for at least a few days. Then rough out the bow and repeat the process.
After a while you can do it by feel alone.
Another thing you can do is to remove a piece of wood and weigh it. Then oven dry it until at 0% mc and again weigh it. Then work out the %age of m.c.
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Also get yourself an hygrometer and then google emc charts, temperature versus r.h.
These will tell you what your wood will get to in your specific climate.
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I've always been suspect of moisture meters. I think they(well,most of them)just measure the surface dryness. I'd put the stave in a plastic bag for a day and then quickly measure the MC. I'll bet it goes up a lot.
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Hickory is very slow loosing moisture. Set them up in a safe dry place and come back next year. You'll never get them too dry.
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I’m learning to use hickory right now. I’ve been cutting the staves down to almost bow size and letting them dry strapped to a form I made. With the wood being that thin its only been taking two weeks before I put the stave in the dryer. RH here in Central Pa has been nice though, 40-50, temp around 80.
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I have a pinless meter that tells the whole tale through and through, they tend to be a bit pricy though.
I put a seasoned hickory bow blank in my drying box the other day to see how dry i could get it. It never went below 12% on my meter, I had forgotten about the conversion chart for different species. When I checked the chart I found it was actually at 8%.
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The meter I got was a 30+- dollar pin type from amazon.
It has calibration modes for different species of woods. Brand name was Tavool I think.
Im going to split one of the staves and check the fresh split and see what I get.
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just remember.. hickory is very sloooow to lose moisture ,but will soak it up like a sponge too.... always bring back inside after working... ALWAYS.... once completed and sealed you are good to go.... gut
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...but still bring it back into an environmentally controlled area after use.
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Do you have a quality moisture meter? I got a cheap one years ago from ebay and it is garbage. Says the same thing usually and very often the reading was 0%.
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Yes, they give a surface reading but you can get around that; as you work the stave keep checking. When you get a reading above 10% stop and let it dry more.
Jawge
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I just split it.and the fresh pieces.were 18-19/% trust your gut instead of.a cheap moisture meter I say!