In a couple of months, a bow maker can take a green piece of wood and make a bow out of it. There are several methods you can use, and most of them are relatively inexpensive. They are also very easy to build, use, and maintain.

First let's talk about what woods you can, or cannot, season rapidly, and the natural ways that you can speed up the seasoning process.

If you cut three logs the same size in length and diameter, and put one in a shed, all in one piece, this one will take longest to season.

Another you split in half, lengthways, with wedges. This one will season faster than the first log.

Third log you split in half and remove the bark. This one will season the fastest of them all. Nature designed bark to protect the tree's moisture, and it does its job very well. A split piece can be dry as a bone along the split, and green as grass along and under the bark.

On most woods, if you take a log and reduce it to a stave, remove the bark, place it in a warm dry place, it will be ready to work in a couple of months.

On Osage Orange, that method won't work. A method that will work, is one where after cutting the log, you take it immediately to a stream, and debark it. Then split it in half, now submerge it (all the way under, weight it) for two full weeks. Then remove it from the stream and place it in a hot attic. The wood will dry out quickly and checking will be minimal. Without such treatment, Osage should sit for three to four months with the bark on, at least.

Black Locust and Mulberry are similar to Osage Orange in one respect. They all have a thinner white sapwood, and a thick dark heart wood. There is also the risk, that they too will check badly if dried too quickly. They both could be treated as Osage in the above paragraph, and yield good results.

Another option on these three woods to prevent checking, is to immediately take off the bark and all the white sapwood. If you use this method, you must stick with it until it is complete, even if it takes a couple of hours. Once the sapwood is removed, cover the heartwood back with white wood glue, or heavy grease such as lard. This will prevent the rapid escape of moisture from the outer rings.

If you take woods, such as Ash and Hickory, remove the bark and split it, then place it in a shed for thirty days, you can then rough out a bow. Place the roughed out bow in a car or pickup topper for about ten to fifteen days. Temps in the vehicles could reach 150* at mid-day. After ten to fifteen days you can then procede in finishing the bow.

Never use heat above 150* when drying a stave. It can damage the grains of the wood, cause it to be too brittle, and possibly crystallize some sections of it. At the very least it could cause checking and cracking.

The best bow woods are made from wood with a moisture content of 8-11%. Wetter wood will follow the string. Some woods, like Osage, will fare better at a higher moisture content, but even Osage will stand better at 8-11%.

Some woods lose moisture very slowly. Hickory is of this type. You could cut a Hickory stave and an Oak stave on the same day, and stand them side by side. After two weeks the Hickory could be 18%, while the Oak could be down to 10%, even though they were standing in the same location for the same amount of time.

For about a 20-dollar bill, you can build a wood drier, for those hard to dry types of wood. This is extremely important if you live where the climate is high on humidity. All you need is a lamp with a 100-watt bulb, and two four-foot pieces of 6-inch stove pipe. The two pieces of stove pipe should be put together and stood on end. The lamp is then placed in the end of the pipe that's on the floor. Above the lamp, holes are drilled in the pipe to lace wire back and forth to form a screen. Two billets or a stave can be placed inside, and a paper sack or some aluminum foil placed over the up end of the pipe to contain the heat. The temp should vary from 100-130*.

Here's how the drier should be used: First varnish the ends of the debarked stave, heavily. Presuming it is dry to the touch, the wood should be 15-20% moisture. The wood can be put in the drier now for about an hour and a half. Then take it out and inspect it carefully. Look for signs of checking on the ends and the back. Then let it sit for twelve hours and inspect it again. If there is no checking, repeat this procedure once more. If there is still no checking, then you can leave it in the drier, for about three days. About every 8 hours or so, rotate the stave so that the end closest to the bulb is not over heated. This should reduce the moisture in most staves to about 9%. Overly large or slow drying woods may require more time.

A different procedure is used for woods such as Osage, Black Locust, or Mulberry. You must remove the bark and sapwood, then let the stave stand, til dry to the touch, before putting it in the drier. Then they can be treated like other woods.

I hope this article has been helpful, and that it speeds up your curing and drying times. And now that we have the moisture content to the right percentage, let's build us a bow.