I just ut some very nice straight pin oak, post pics a little later, I removed the bark which just peeled off in big pieces, sk I need to coat the back and the ends if these stages while they dry or do you have to do that with whitewood? They are very very wet water was pouring out of them as unloaded them in the truck may take a while in the hot box. Let me know what y'all think want to try to make some good bows from these.
I've never seen any whitewoods that you need to coat their backs. Ends yes! Store your wood in the shade and out of the sun and you should be OK IMO.
Yeah j have it in the garage right now fixing to wire up the lights in the hot box and put the smaller stave in it
bbs383ci - As I understand it, you should split your logs into staves and leave in a dry place for a while before putting them in the hot box. They lose so much moisture so fast the first few days the heat is not necessary and may even be harmful, causing checking or crushing interior wood cells. Rob
(http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq50/bbs383ci/IMG_1496.jpg) (http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq50/bbs383ci/IMG_1501.jpg) (http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq50/bbs383ci/IMG_1502.jpg) (http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq50/bbs383ci/IMG_1506.jpg) second and last pic is of the one im wanting to start on first its pretty straight which is what i wanted for my first selfbow maybe by next year ill be able to make one worthy of the trade, that would be cool.
1025 thanks for the info these staves are really wet be a while since i seen a tree with this much water in it ill let them sit for a couple of weeks before i put them into the hotbox, i guess i should keep the temp around what 90 and 110 degrees does that sound right.
thanks again. :campfire:
If you get it down to a bow blank, I bet you could put it on a caul to dry and it would keep it's shape well. Plus it would not take as long to dry with all the extra wood on it. Just a thought.
ive thought bout that too whats the usual amount of reflex you guys use on a caul