What is the best way to dry wood that is going to be used in a fiber glass lam bow? I will be cutting down a Honey Locust and would like to use it in a bow.
I stacked cherry, walnut and osage in an open sided loafing shed and air dried with spacers. Several years later it was ready to go. I haven't used a solar kiln, but have heard good things about them. Check out these plans: http://owic.oregonstate.edu/solarkiln/plans.htm
Here is a good read...
http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/for/for55/for55.htm
The link is down right now, I looked at it yesterday. Maybe it will come back up.
You might contact Kenny McKenzie for some pointers. He's making lams now and you can find him in the sponsor's classified section.
If you have a hot box for cooking your bows it will do double duty as a kiln, too. Just monitor your heat and time.
Maybe the fastest way to dry wood is to boil it ;)
Salt, water, stainless pipe and heat...
Thanks guys.
If I use my hot box how long would I need to leave the wood in it. I do not have a moister meter. I am using the thermostat that Binghams sells.
Hardwood Drying Schedules
http://www1.fpl.fs.fed.us/drying.html
or try
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=kiln+schedules&spell=1
Ricky,
If you plan to use it for lams, my experience has been that you can go ahead and rip and grind it close to desired thickness, put it in a hotbox at about 100 or so degrees for about a month or so, pull it out, grind it to exact thickness and build a bow. If you are planning to use it for riser wood you got some waitin'to do. You can cut it in half inch thick slats a good bit longer than your riser, because it will check at the ends, dry it in your hotbox like the lams I discribed for several months, and laminate it up to your riser thickness after trimming the checked ends. The other option is to flitch saw the log, sticker and stack for a few yrs and then build a bow.
Im waiting on some persimmon and osage to dry now so i feel your pain.
Dan