I have heard many times that hickory/pecan is really bad about sucking up humidity / moisture in the air...well Houston is humid as crap. Would a hickory self bow turn into a turd while out in the field hunting due to soaking up all humidity in the air? Or would I be able to seal with multiple coats of polyurethane to maintain performance in the field?
It does soak up moisture. But I've heard of plenty of guys using them in humid areas. The sealing is a big part of it.
It will take days for it to soak up moisture. If you keep your bow in your house with A/C it should keep the M/C down. A hot box will work better when the bow is not being used. You can't seal the moisture out but a good sealer will slow the intake of moisture.
according to Dean Torges, no finish is moisture "proof", but nothing is as good as parrafin wax.
So what if I were on say a 4 or 5 day wilderness hunting trip, outside the entire time...in a tent at night. On the 4th or 5th day Would a hickory bow experience such performance decline that i need be worried about penetration?
With most all of today's sealants, and many of those from the past, I'd say no. You could use a paste wax on the bow if you were worried, but I shoot unfinished bows out here routinely and experience little issue with it. And our humidity often reaches 100%. A prolonged hunt I would have sealed my bow, definitely, but even an hour of shooting my issues in cast can be explained by my poor choice of test string.
I hunted in the San Juan Mts of Colorado on two occasions. We camped and hunted in a creek bottom where the humidity was high and had showers very afternoon. We kept our selfbows and sinew backed bows in a PVC tube with uncooked rice in the bottom to help with moisture controll. We were in the wilderness area for 5 to 7 days with no negative results to our bows. They came out of the area the same as they went in.
I live in south west Louisiana. Our humidity is pretty much the same as Houston. I shoot and hunt with my hickory bow and store it inside in the a/c as Pat suggested. I have never noticed a decrease in cast or "zippyness" by doing this. My bows are sealed with 5-6 coats of tru-oil and a coat of satin poly over that. I put a coat of paste wax on every year after that.
You can never keep moisture out of a selfbow no matter what finish you use but you can control the rate at which it take on moisture by storing it properly between sessions.
Pvc tube and rice sounds like a great idea that i will use as we r actually boating into hunting location.. I will also seal with tru oil, a poly sealant, and parafin. Im sure im making this a bigger concern than need be but this will be my first archery hunt so im attempting to minimize the number of potential negatives. ThAnks a lot for the great ideas guys.
I use about 5 or 6 coats of Tru-Oil(rub down with 0000 steelwool between coats) and a quick spray of satin poly to cut the shine of the Tru-Oil. No need to add the extra physical weght of the parafin. Its not necessary. You will get good protection from the Tru-Oil.