Questions about yew

[Titan_Bow]

I have a set of yew billets that I've been saving for a special occasion.  Well, I found out today that I drew a bighorn ewe tag here in Colorado, and thought this would be a good time to employ these billets.   The billets are very straight, however, the ring count is a little low compared to what I've read about.  They only have about 22 rings/inch and has about 1/2" of sapwood.  I would like to make a 66" bow, similar to the Chet Stevenson bow that was on the cover of TBM some years ago. 
 Never having worked yew before, I am a little cautious to start whittling wood.  First, should I work the sapwood down to maybe a 1/4" or so?  If so, do you try to stay within one ring, or just make sure the back is flat and even? (I had heard a little ring violation in sapwood was not a big deal).   I would like to make the bow 66", and 1 1/4" wide to midlimb, with a deep core and slightly rounded belly.   Is this a reasonable expectation, or should I stick to more of a flatbow style? 
  I know there are some yew gurus on this site, please feel free to chime in with your advice.

[Trapper]

You would be suprised how many guys on here havent worked that much with Yew. Its hard to get, for one thing. Anyway what I have done is leave about 1/4 in. of sapwood and you should be fine, you also probably know that it is almost impossible to make a bendy handle bow with billets right?      Trapper

[duffontap]

Hey Titan,

I don't worry about the small ring violations that happen when you're working around dips and pins but with a lower ring count it wouldn't hurt to be a little more careful.  I would work the sapwood down to 3/16-1/4" and burnish the back or back the bow with rawhide like Chet did with most of his bows.  As far as design goes, I would say that a 66" nock-to-nock english longbow 1 1/4" wide and an average weight and section would be good for a 26-27" draw.  68-70" is better for a full 28" draw but those measurements are a little conservative.  I like my english bows around 6" for my 27-28" draw. 

By way of encouragement:  Yew is extremely strong.  It does have a reputation for random, mysterious breakage but that is only because it's so strong most of the time.  While cutting Yew a few months ago I let some of my helpers try to break a 1" branch--didn't happen. 

I'd love to see a picture of that Stevenson bow.  What year was that--I may have the back issue?

              J. D. Duff