I remenber seeing an article years ago about someone building osage self bows and he soaked the logs in his pond before building bows from them. I dont remember why but I know that is what he did. I am just curiouse if anyone has heard of this and what is/was the purpose. I did several searches and didn't find anything. Thanks
If you read some of Saxton Pope's writings, he mentions testing curing wood sank in a pond or body of water.
The low oxygen levels, supposedly help the cause.
Look at the old wood lost from logging from the 18 century, that is being found and used!
Pretty cool!
I've heard of saltwater curing but not in a pond???
I have read about the Cherokee Indians soaking their Bois d Arc staves in water before they built their bows.Dont know how long,
Interesting indeed. But I'm not soaking my Osage:)
I prefer to work towards drying osage. I've read about salt water soaking, fresh water soaking(pond and stream) and I guess if you have enough time to do a true test on the primciples you might find some interesting discoveries...but for me, waiting a year or two for a piece of osage to dry to build a bow is about all I can take for now.
There was an article in PA Magazine a few years ago about salt water curing. Got a lot of contravecy going on PA website. I, personally, don't like the idea of saturating my bow wood with salt. Salt attracts moisture and that is a no no with wood bows.
What little I have read was the indians would let it sit in a river or stream in running water and for some reason it cured a little better.
I think probably the same concept as steaming a green stave or along the general lines of that anyway. Not a whole lot of info on the subject really but it was done in times past for some reason.
Stiks
main reason only was for letting the sap run out without dry checking.
JD
Sounds good guys, anyone else? I am just curiouse bc I always thought that was the way to start a bow and then I have never heard mention of it here?
JD, don't you think better bow wood can be had by leaving the "sap"(resins)to solidify in the wood cells by dry seasoning the wood over time. I remember reading years back about tying off your stave so it wouldn't float away and laying it in a creek for a period of time. When I first read it I thought is sounded like a good idea. Over the past few years I have learned from a few folks about "cured" or "seasoned" woods as compared to "dry" wood(for both bows and arrows). It is the solidifying of the resins in the wood cells that makes wood cured or seasoned and IMO better bow wood.
I remember watch in about the sunken woods they are pulling out of the great lakes, from the 10% loss that happened at the turn of the century logging. The cold deep water only allowed certain bacteria to grow in the wood. I would only eat certain parts of the wood cells and made them better for musical instruments. They were selling some of that timber for over 100,000 a log. Don't know how it would effect a bow though.
My take on the process and a WAG is that submerging a log would kill all the critters that eat up osage, an important thing to do in times before Diazanon.
Eric that makes sense!
I think its like Eric said, it keeps the bugs or fungi from attacking it. I remember reading in TB4 that if moisture content is above 30% in any piece of wood its pores are filled with water and it cannot be attacked.
I did think about bugs too. Do you think they would return while drying if outside. A lot of ancient traditions had more worth than we often see, from our modern perspective.
i kind a think another reason is to steam bend their wood i read some where they d soak them then heat the rocks and cover it and also run soaked pieces over a fire to steam bend wood in the old days imo thats the only other reason i can see my 02 brock
Osage has the highest extractive content of all of our native woods, and many of these extractable chemicals are water soluble, and will partially leach out during soaking. The leached wood would then dry faster because the wood cells are less obstructed for the evaporation of the sap/water. Bugs are also controlled by soaking.
The same chemicals give Osage its decay resistance, which is the highest of our native woods.
Dan Quillian told me once that Osage should be soaked in running water for an extended period of time before drying.
I have no idea whether there's actually any benefit to the soaking, other than bug control. At the very least it would allow the wood to be held longer before processing. Many wood storage yards in the South use a constant spray of water over the piles of pine logs to keep bugs out. There's a point of diminishing returns beyond which the water causes stain and other deterioration, so it can only be done for a limited time.
Pat, in the newest Primative archer magazine the article by Charles Palmer(Glen St.Charles) he talks about Glen showing him where he stashed his yew staves in a creek to prevent checking.
I haven't read that yet. I'll check it out.
I have an article in that issue also.