Coastal Yew explosion

[danlaw]

Early on in my bow-making journey I had a few yew bows explode on me - one almost took out my eye. I happened to mention it to a Nuuchahnulth elder up in Ahousaht (West Coast of Vancouver Island), and he said that they never used to use yew that grew close to the ocean. He said the young guys would hike sixty miles or more inland over the mountains to get yew for their bows, otherwise the bows would blow up on them. I thought that was quite interesting. Has anyone else heard of this?

[vinemaplebows]

No, but interesting..

[Lil Bow Pete]

Jeeze! I hope not. I got a lot of yew from the Port Hardy area. Seems good so far. Made a few good bows outa it. As good as my skills will alow. Now I have an excuse for my screw ups.

[deerhunter97370]

I would guess that there would be more wind shake damage on coastal trees. I had bow blow on me that had wind shake damage. I know the Oregon coast here has wicked wind storms. Maybe that's why. Joel

[danlaw]

I didn't think about wind damage. That's a good point. I recall the old guy said something about salt, but I can't quite remember the significance. It looks like there are some great yew bows on the board here, so maybe it doesn't matter that much. I've made a couple kids bows out of yew since then, but they're well overbuilt and quite light poundage. I have enough yew, but I haven't built up the gumption to make anything close to 50# again. Maybe I'll give it a try with backing...

[Weylin]

Aww man, When i read the title I thought you'd discovered a huge stand of yew trees on the coast!  I was ready to jump in my car and drive out there from Portland. 

[M-P]

I made one yew bow early on and had it blow up a year later and in the middle of a shoot.  Right near the parking lot too, so a lot of people got to see it!   I have yet to make a second yew bow.  Unfortunately that stave was a gift and of unknown origin.   So my anecdote has no bearing on your question, except to confirm that yew can really blow.  My own theory is that yew is more sensitive to heat and dry than many other woods, but origin may play a part.  S. Pope was from the Bay area here and of course started backing his bows with rawhide just to prevent breakage in his yew bows.    I suspect his staves were from inland areas, he surely wouldn't have found much yew in the SF Bay area.
Ron

[danlaw]

lol Weylin. Man, you have to come to the coast of Vancouver Island sometime. My father in-law has boards of the stuff sitting in piles under his porch. That's interesting M-P. Thanks for that.

[Keenan]

I saw and helped wit that bow that blew up on Joel. AKA "Deerhunter" It was about as clean and premium of stave as it gets, and I think he is right about it being wind shake. He had that bow tillered very well and she let go with a bang in the final stages.

[Bryce]

I've heard something similar. I knew a siletz native. That told me to never harvest bow wood near the ocean air. I never did ask why.

[Prarie Bowyer]

I didn't think about wind damage. That's a good point. I recall the old guy said something about salt, but I can't quite remember the significance. ...

. . .

Might not have been any.  Simply people trying to guess/figure out why the wood dosen't work.

[danlaw]

Well, I threw together a yew flatbow to try. I used a reversed grain board (to avoid some angry stuff) with some ring violations and small cracks. So far it's no problem - I think the flat bow Holmegaard design makes it quite a bit safer than other designs I have tried that blew up. It's 40# at about 27" right now. I might heat treat it to get a couple extra pounds out of it. I made another one, a short longbow design, but I left it in my house for the last month or so and a whole bunch of cracks appeared out of nowhere. My grandfather in law said he had a longbow when he was young. He put it away in the rafters before he went off to WWII. When he came back he tried it out and it blew up right away. It was just too dry. So, maybe that's one secret to coastal yew. Anyway, I might post some picks of the last one when it's finished and oiled up.

[snag]

Also high elevation yew is probably a slower growing tree with a shorter growing season=tigher growth rings and stronger wood...?