Advice required regarding some yew...

[WillS]

It's well seasoned. A good couple of years at this point I think.

[Gordon]

That's why I use a bandsaw to split yew logs. At this point however just rough out the bow and then take out the limb twist using dry heat.

[randman]

That fork at the end will end up on the tip of the bow and will probably be unbending so I would just follow the center line and not worry about the fork.
Other than that, what everyone else said.

[WillS]

Argh!! So I've scraped and peeled the bark off, ready with pencil in hand to follow a single longitudinal grain line... and there aren't any!?!?

I have a piece of ash here which shows quite clearly the vertical grain lines running the whole length of the stave, but there definitely aren't any of those on this piece of yew.  It's just one single solid creamy back with apparently no grain anywhere.  This doesn't make sense to me, as obviously there are grain lines in the wood, but I definitely can't see them, no matter how bright a light I use (the sun didn't help either)

Usually when I rough out a longbow, I have a template that I use.  I lay it over the back, draw around it, and axe or drawknife to the guidlines.  Everybody on this thread has said to follow a single line of grain along the back, but what do I do if I can't see any?

[blackhawk]

Draw a line down the center of the crown of your stave...since you split it out it'll basically be in the middle of the stave in most cases...and that will be your center line ...templates are only good for boards in most cases

[WillS]

Ok, that makes life a bit easier.  There is however this chunky ol' knot sitting almost dead over the crown, and it would be smack in the middle of the working limb.  It's a bit too wide I think to place in the middle of the limb, but to avoid it completely I would have to deviate quite a bit from the crown.  Is this a problem? I guess I can probably just heat-straighten that one area if need be?

The black line is where the crown of the stave is, and the red lines are where the edges of the bow limb would be. 

[DarkSoul]

Is this a problem?

No, it's called a challenge

That is a pretty nasty knot cluster, in all honesty. You can't ignore it, since it'll be in the limb for the most part. You can't avoid it either, because there is not enough wood on the upper side of it in the picture. The good news, it looks like a solid knot. I think I'd personally choose to keep the width of the bow basically as you have outlined. Leave the bow slightly wider and slightly thicker at the knot area, to make this spot stiff. This will compensate for the weakness that the knot causes.

[WillS]

If it was possible to avoid it (the photo doesn't quite show accurately how much wood is left on that upper side, and there is a bit extra to play with) is it ok to swoop around the knot, then heat-straighten it back into line?

[Keenan]

Not sure about your yew but with the yew we have here, clusters are no problem. The lumpy yew I just finished was riddled with clusters just like that. Mid limb and even right out of the fades.

[WillS]

I'm not too worried about having the cluster in the limb, if that's my only option.  It would be nice to avoid it somehow, as it's the only knot that would appear in the entire bow.  I don't want to slice through it, as that would almost certainly result in some dangerous sapwood violation on the edge of the bow. 

[vinemaplebows]

What gordan said...bandsaw.

[4est Trekker]

I haven't read all the replies, so forgive me if this is redundant...perhaps you could cut the stave in half, split (or cut, preferably) each billet in two and splice them together.  If you've got enough wood in the right places, you could probably get two bows out of it.  That will help to reduce the severity of the twist (as you're dealing with half the length) and create a somewhat symmetrical, bookmatched limb profile when all is said and done (which, incidentally, will be easier said than done )

[dwardo]

The thing that always catches me out with yew is pulling up grain because its self soft, especially around knots.
Files, rasps, etc are the way to go, planes and drawknives are asking for trouble on all but the cleanest bits.

[WillS]

Hope you guys don't mind me asking so many questions - really wanna get this right!

Ok, with the issue of marking out the stave sorted, I've reached the point where I need to decide what to do with this tricky fork at the end.  It's about 10" from the tip, and splits into three.  There are three clear heartlines, and I'm not sure which to follow when laying out the tip.

This shows the heartlines forking into three.



This centre heartline turns into kinda fluffy obscure sapwood, and I don't think there is any heartwood underneath it.  But as somebody mentioned earlier in the thread, it's not doing much bending this far into the tip, so may not be as important.



And this shows a clearer picture of the three separate forks



I think I'd rather take the left-hand heartline as my centre line, as it looks far more solid.  However that would mean heat-bending the tip back into line with the rest of the stave.  While this isn't a problem in practice, it would mean that I would have to bisect the other two heartlines right where all the bending will happen.  Would this weaken the bow here?

Sort of like this I suppose



Black line would be the centre line of the bow, red lines are the intended outside edges, and blue crosses are where the other two heartlines would be sliced through, with the blue circle the meeting point of everything.  How artistic!

Apologies for reviving what is probably a boring thread for you guys who know what you're doing - I'm probably overthinking this and should just get on with it!  Many thanks for any tips or advice!

[blackhawk]

You don't draw a centerline on the belly along the heartwood pith line...you draw it on the sapwood back...don't worry about where that pith line runs...it usually differs from how the grain runs on the back on the sapwood...and you want to follow that grain because that is where your tension and bow will be,not where the pith is.