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Author Topic: Rawhide on Yew  (Read 3638 times)

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Offline bigcountry

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Rawhide on Yew
« on: May 14, 2012, 04:51:20 pm »
Is rawhide or sinew on yew really important?  I am finishing up a yew longbow with 1/4" sapwood.  I have kept it to one ring. 

I am trying to reproduces the bow on TBBVol1.  They recommend rawhide.   Hopefully it will be 55lbs or so.

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Offline Pat B

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2012, 05:10:16 pm »
Rawhide is not necessary on yew. If your bow has bad knots I would add rawhide. The sapwood on yew is the best backing for yew even with some grain violations.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline M-P

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2012, 07:19:02 pm »
I don't have easy access to yew, so my experience is limited.   That said, I can say I made one yew bow that worked really well, until one hot, dry afternoon when it turned into splinters.   Really spectacular.  Fortunately no one was injured.   
Yew has a reputation of getting brittle if the weather is too dry, or too cold.   Saxton Pope made and shot yew bows and was a big proponent of rawhide backing.   Since much of his hunting was in the same area, I wonder if he didn't have similar experiences.
Anyway, rawhide backing  will make such blow-ups less likely.   A yew selfbow is beautiful, but use rawhide if you plan on using the bow in extreme climates.   My two cents worth.   Ron
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Offline Keenan

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2012, 07:55:03 pm »
 Yew is great with 1/4" of sapwood.  We have very dry weather here and it's high desert area. Have hunted in hot dry 90 deg.  also have hunted with yew bows down to 20 degrees have never has a problem, but always use good sealers. Have backed with sinew, sturgeon, halibut,lingcod,snake and air. My yew bow that has the most shots through it is a self bow with snake skins, somewhere in the neighborhood 6000 plus shots, still shooting strong
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Offline coaster500

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2012, 08:14:38 pm »
" I have kept it to one ring. "   

I'm impressed....  one ring on Yew is a feat (for me)....back it if you want but if it were mine I'd want to savor that clean ring :)

« Last Edit: May 14, 2012, 08:20:01 pm by coaster500 »
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Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2012, 11:34:24 pm »
I've made a couple and backed them with rawhide. I didn't have to but I tend to bang a bow around and yew is a soft wood. Jawge
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2012, 11:49:41 pm »
I have made a total of zero yew bows...but a friend of mine has blown up three finished yew bows, two of which were finished, shooting great, AND backed with rawhide.  Yew often does that when it gets too dry. 

He now keeps his yew bows in the bathroom next to the shower!
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #7 on: May 15, 2012, 01:06:51 am »
This is a yew bow I built from a stave Don Berg(OldBow) strapped to his mountain bike and hauled 8 miles out of the Montana wilderness. It is unbacked and you can see it has issues.  ::)  Pulls 47#@26" and was finished with hand rubbed bear fat. Lots of grain violations in the sapwood. I think this is the most consistant bow I own.










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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Del the cat

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #8 on: May 15, 2012, 08:30:11 am »
In the English climate I don't seem to have problems with Yew, but I did have one explode on the tiller a while back after a long cold dry spell.
IMO go with your gut feeling for the wood. Most of my Yew bows feel like they could pull another couple of inches no prob.
The one that exploded was stuck at 26" draw as I was tillering it, I kept taking off wood and it just wouldn't come back any more... just sat at 55# @ 26"... then I finally got it to shift 55# at 26 1/2" and she blew big time. :o Mind it did have some issues on the back.
If you have a good clean consistant back, that's the imprortant thing, I've had the most outlandish knots on belly and sides and got away with it, but the back is the important bit. (You can violate rings, but it needs to be clean and evenly done)
Del
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2012, 12:58:54 pm »
I have a beautiful piece of yew my buddy gave me and I cant see how anybody could see or chase a sapwood ring on it? Thats crazy impressive. I cant see any differentation in the sapwood rings, zero. Im backing it with roo rawhide just to tick off the guy that gave me the stave, he is a backing hater! And because I want to keep both eyes if she lets go. That being said I cant WAIT to work yew and hopefully put one on the rack.
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Offline country

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2012, 03:22:28 pm »
I just got a piece that has a questionable knot about 4 inches above where the handle would be....  haven't worked with yew yet so it will be interesting... I'm sure I will back it with rawhide :o
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Offline bigcountry

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Re: Rawhide on Yew
« Reply #11 on: May 15, 2012, 06:25:34 pm »
So, the deal is, I started this bow in 2008.  Broke the upper limb.  So I got another piece of yew with like 1/2" or more sapwood.  So decided on a takedown.  Wanted them to match.  So took it down 8 layers of sapwood.  I used to try to take off one layer at a time, but found it easier to take off multiple layers being careful to leave one I could take off with sandpaper.  Last layer, I carefully remove.

I hate using rawhide if I don't have too.  I think natural sapwood looks beautiful.



Thanks for alls advise.
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Westminster, MD
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