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Author Topic: Reviving my dads old ELB project  (Read 4023 times)

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Offline Carson (CMB)

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Reviving my dads old ELB project
« on: December 02, 2011, 03:00:36 am »
Pics to come soon..but not hard to imagine it...just picture a yew long bow about 6' long with about 2.5" string follow, and most of the work being done by the middle third of the limbs. 

My dad got the stave from Don Adams probably 25 years ago and tillered it out, then, put rawhide on it, tore the rawhide off, left it in a corner of the shop till now.  He handed it to me and said, see what you can do with it. I have never worked with yew. I have had it strung for almost a week now and have been warming it with lots of short draws. Got it back to full draw today and would guess it is about 55lbs at 28" right now.

I would like to take some of the string follow out.  How does yew handle heat treating?  The outer third of the limbs still have enough material to work with in terms of bending in some recurve and laminating some reinforcement for a static recurve. Suggestions welcome. What about cutting and splicing the handle to put some reflex in it?

I would like to turn it around finished as a gift back to my dad in time for christmas. 



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"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline Del the cat

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2011, 06:07:29 am »
Yew loves heat treating and heat beanding.
Does the bow have its sapwood on the back still?
If it hasn't really been shot much you may be able to heat treat it and take out the follow at the same time. That's a big 'may' though as I've never tried it on a bow that has been shot in.
If you try it I'd suggest a few layers of duct tape or somesuch ove the sapwood to protect it during heat treating of the belly.
I'm looking forward to the pics!
Del
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Offline Longbowgilly

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2011, 07:28:24 am »
Yew bows are beautiful!
I got mine about 6 months ago, I got the stave from the US and gave it to our Bowyer friend Nick Lintern of Norseman Bows in NSW Australia and I got a beautiful full compass ELB that has a draw weight of 55lb at my usual draw of 26 inches.
its taken me a while to work up to that weight and its currently the heaviest bow that I own, I use it on our archery clubs 3D target range and shoot well with it now I am used to it!

I bet you will love getting your bow ready for action, looking forward to seeing the pics!
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Offline Dazv

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2011, 03:54:22 pm »
you've had it strung for a week?
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2011, 06:15:16 pm »
Thats what I was goin gto ask Dazv. That wont help your set issue one tiny bit.
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mikekeswick

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2011, 07:41:36 pm »
I agree with bracing it for a good length of time as it will allow the belly to get back to it's 'shot in bow' levels of compaction. If you are going to leave an old bow braced for a while then use a low brace and gradually increase the time it's braced, then gradually increase brace height, then short draws building up to full draw. It's definately the safest way for an old bow that hasn't been shot for a long time. It's just like pulling a bow 30 times when tillering to show the true shape.It won't increase set unless it was at a high mc.
What I would add is that as soon as you notice any weak/stiff spots during this process you should immediately unbrace and correct them.
Heat treating is a good idea with yew in general but if it's a true ELB then the belly will be crowned to some degree and won't handle being reflexed too much.
As for recurving it...don't! Just get it bending correctly ;)
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Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2011, 02:28:10 am »
mikekeswick's sage advice came too late (or my hastiness came too soon).  I tried recurving the tips this afternoon, applying heat with some glowing coals from the fireplace.  The crowned belly did not agree with what I was trying to do.  Broke the top limb. I got accustomed to how easily vine maple took heat bending and got carried away. Dad will have to accept one of my vine maple bows this christmas.   

Going to get some yew this tuesday with my grandpa, so hopefully I will be getting some more experience with this wood moving forward.
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"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline Weylin

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2011, 10:29:22 pm »
Wow, it's kinda like the twilight zone or something! I've been making a vine maple bow as a gift for my father and just snapped a limb after reflexing the tips, (pretty sure that wasn't the culprit though). and Just before that he gave me a 30 year old yew stave that he had tried to work into a ELB and wanted me to see what I could do with it. Hopefully our karma will reverse and my yew bow will be successful and your vine maple will be as well. Good luck and sorry about the broken bow.  :D
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Offline Keenan

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2011, 10:38:28 pm »
Wow for a minute I was thinking that you had changed your login name Weylin. Thatis crazy!
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Offline mullet

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2011, 01:16:40 am »
Be carefull. I was at about 20" this summer with one of the last Yew billets that Glen StCharles put together and it blew the top limb without any warning. It was pretty old and I thought I was going to throw up. I've had two old Yew staves do that to me. I think from now on if I mess with Yew that old I'm going to soak it in water for awhile or something like some kind of oil, I'm undecided on which would be best.
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Offline Weylin

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2011, 01:53:17 am »
can you really do much to change a bow's moisture content for the long term? Logic seems to dictate that all wood is going to match the moisture level in the air. you might be able to raise the moisture level of the yew for a bit but it's going to return to 'normal' again, wont it? It seems the problem is that yew can get brittle with age, is it really avoidable? I'm not trying to be smart, I'm genuinely curious. Especially since I'm going to be working with a fair amount of old yew coming up here.
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Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2011, 03:26:47 am »
Weylin...that is crazy.  Kind of a chiral cosmic coincidence.  Like you said, hopefully our luck turns around.

Mullet, forgot to mention that is the second old yew stave to blow up on me, as well.   The first was a very old (40s maybe 30s) old wall hanger ELB ..of my dads.  It was a couple years ago when I first started getting drawn towards wood bows when I got curious about this bow, decided to string it and give it a few short warm-up draws...Pow.  The bow exploded, leaving me with string in one hand and the riser in the other...the limbs, along with any sense of self-worth, were nowhere to be found. 
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"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline Elktracker

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #12 on: December 06, 2011, 01:45:11 pm »
Quote from: Keenan on December 05, 2011, 10:38:28 pm
Wow for a minute I was thinking that you had changed your login name Weylin. Thatis crazy!

Yep me too!

Sorry about that better luck next time

Josh
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my friends think my shops a mess, my wife thinks I have too much bow wood, my neighbors think im redneck white trash and they may all be right on the money!!

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Offline Buckeye Guy

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Re: Reviving my dads old ELB project
« Reply #13 on: December 06, 2011, 05:37:31 pm »
Mullet
I think I have had some success by heating olive oil into wood !
But it may have just been the good Lord watching out for a not so bright old man !
Its a process I use to bend wood that just does not want to soften up any other way!
If you try it let us know your thoughts.
Guy
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Guy Dasher
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