Manipulating yew with heat?

[Sidewinder]

I have a yew stave that needs a bit of side to side straightening. I have dry heated osage with no problem but have never worked with yew and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions that might help me before I damage a good yew stave. Its the only one I have and don't want to mess it up if I can help it.  Its well cured ( 2yrs) and not wet so I have heard wet/steam  dry/heatgun. Danny

[Bryce]

How much bend are we talking about? Slight curve I would use dry heat. A lot I would soak it in water for a day and steam it. Good results with the latter.

-Pinecone

[bambule]

Yew works very fine with dry heat but you have to use oil otherwise you get cracks...
Be carefully

[Del the cat]

Yew responds well to either, but I'd go with steam in the first instance, and allow plenty of time clamped up for the wood to settle.
Dry heat (with oil) is OK but I always worry about drying out the sapwood and protect it with a few layers of duct tape and keep direct heat off it.
I had one bow which would keep shifting back, eventually I combined a correction and belly tempering (to only a hint of darkening, I was low on draw weight any how as it was a skinny stave).
It stayed put after that.
Del

[mikekeswick]

Del's onto something.
With lateral corrections rough your stave out so it's square in cross section (if you can) then boil it actually in water , not just steam, allowing 1 hour per inch of thickness. Clamp to a form and over correct to allow for spring back.
Once it's been there for a day or so clamped up then up at it with the heat gun (and oil the area) until you just start to change the colour of the heartwood but be careful not to damage the back.
Leave it clamped for another day and it should stay put. I've found you do need both stages when correcting lateral bends.

[Pappy]

I oil and dry heat with good results.
   Pappy

[Sidewinder]

OK thanks guys.  I will post when I am done.   Danny

[_Jon_]

I oil and dry heat with good results.
   Pappy

So far so good on the one I'm working on with Pappy's help.  I even called Mullet up down in Florida for some advice.  Matt gave me some good pointers also when down last week.  I've been taking my time on it because Yew is so hard to come by in Tennessee. 

Pappy bent mine for me on the form and it's looking great so far.  Man it's good to have friends who have decades of experience to assist me when I'm in over my head on a project.   

[simson]

I have done it several times with good results as bambule and pappy said.
 
simson