Peculiar yew staves

[edmondsr]

Hi,

A buddy at work has given me two yew staves to work on. Here's the thing though, he has already worked on them and has ended up removing most of the sapwood. This he was told to do by the guy who gave (or sold) him the staves in the first place. I really would like to salvage this wood and turn them into bows, since owing to the price of yew, this might be one of my only chances to play with it. However, I have not read much about people making yew bows without the sapwood.

Has anyone tried and would care to share a few tips with a relative novice? I have only made board bows thus far and my thinking so far is that with most of the sapwood off and the rings violated I may end up using these staves as little more than boards anyway.  Anyone?

Perhaps I can smooth the back by taking off the remaining sapwood and apply a rawhide or linen back?

[J05H]

I've never worked with yew myself but, from what I've read, it's supposed to be more than adequate without the sapwood. I read somewhere that the bow would have to be way over stressed for the difference in strength to come into play. If it were me, I'd probably work it down to the first good ring, be it heartwood or sapwood, and go from there. I could be wrong. Like I said, I'm just repeating what I've read. Maybe we'll hear from someone who knows what there talking about.

Josh

[Del the cat]

You only need a thin layer of sapwood, and don't be too worried about following growth rings.
If the sap wood covers the whole back I'd leave it... it looks soooo good too!
Del

[edmondsr]

The sapwood is gone in some, or even many, areas, unfortunately. I'm wondering if removing the rest of the sapwood and chasing a heartwood ring might work. It would be nice to make a selfbow out of it without any backing....maybe I'm asking too much... I wonder if just leaving what's left of the sapwood might work without a backing...if chasing a ring there is not too important.

[woodstick]

if you get a chance read billets to bows by glenn stcharles he is a yew expert from way way back or you can call his son jay strcharles at 425-761-3696 he works yew everyday.

[radius]

i wanna read billets to bows!

as for yew heartwood, giv'er...  Yew heartwood is safe as a self-backed wood, don't worry, done it myself...

[Dave 55]

I believe in TTB 1 there is a picture of Paul Comstocks daughter with a all heartwood yew bow.

[Jmilbrandt]

I have made one all heartwood bow from yew and it works fine, go for it.

[bcbull]

IF YA HAVE TO USE THE HEARTWOOD  BACK IT WITH RAWHIDE  OR   IF YOU RELLEY LOST A LOT IN THERE ID SUGGEST BACKING IT WITH ASH  AS MARC ST LOUIS DOES   THATS WHAT I DO WITH THE HEARTWOOD STAVES I GET  BROCK

[Dauntless]

All those Neolithic yew bows are heartwood only...  I would imagine it is just as tension strong as the sapwood (if not more so, being denser)  Making an all sapwood yew bow might be problematic on the other hand.

You could take off the remaining sapwood and try chasing a heartwood ring.  It'll be pretty difficult with a high density (good) piece because of the ring count.  It doesn't need to be perfectly done, as long as you don't cut through several layers in a small area.

[Dano]

Glenn StCharles advocated backing yew bows with rawhide and we're talkin sapwood backed yew, without the sapwood I don't think it's even a question. The bow might do well in some climates and times of the year without rawhide, but is it really worth the gamble.

[adb]

I've done a rawhide backed yew ELB, and it turned out OK. It took a bit of set, but it's a good shooter. I've not done it myself, but I know guys who have done sinew backed yew with great success.