Newbie with a yew

[Stoneaxe]

Hello All...new to the forum. I've never made a bow but I've been thinking of it for many years as you'll see.
I have a yew that I planted 25 years ago with the intent of doing this someday. I actually planted 100 (used to have a tree farm) but there was something wrong with the seedlings and I lost all but this one. The tree is about 12" in dia at the base, narrowing to 8" 8 feet up. It has been trimmed of all lower branches every year and is clear to 10'. It's also very straight. I'm wondering how many staves you think I might be able to get out of it...I'm thinking 4? I'd like to make an English longbow for myself and my older brother. I'm planning on cutting it this spring...next question...how long to season?

Thanks....there will be more questions...

[DC]

That's awesome, first time I've heard of someone harvesting a Yew that they planted. My rough figuring says that the rings will be 1/4" each. I wonder how thick the sapwood will be. You might get eight staves. Split it into 4 and then bandsaw them in half. Being really optimistic you might get a belly split off each quarter. You're best to leave them for a year but you might get away with 8 months. Good luck

[stuckinthemud]

 There is a theory that ELB design came about as a way to maximise the number of bows that could be got out of a stave.  I would hope to get more than 4 from that tree but you won't really know until you cut it down and have a look at the cross-section

[Del the cat]

Personally I'd give it some more time... the years will slip by on their own... trust me  .
If you must cut it, split or saw it into 2 initially then decide if you can reduce it to quarters.
It depends what size bows you hope to get, generally I find it's fewer than you expect.
You may have loads of sapwood and not much heartwood so you won't really know until you cut it.
It's always better to aim for a few good staves than a load of useless ones  .
With only 8" at the top you may only get 2 decent warbow staves if there's not much heart wood.
Look upon it as an investment, if you cut it down and find it's not much good you've blown it     
Del

PS. IMO there are some optimists here! It will be 4 max if you are lucky.

[DC]

I was being extremely optimistic, like best case possible. Since it would be a shame to cut down the tree and find that it's mostly sapwood maybe you can find an arborist with a core drill and take a sample below and above where you plan to cut. That said, it is yew and should sprout from the stump.

[Pat B]

I'd think in another 100 years you'll have some nice yew staves.   

[Woodely]

I'am new here but played around with bows a little while.  At any rate the way I dry wood is install a couple ceiling hooks in a garage or where ever.  Even though my garage has no heat the car heats it up.  I have dried wood in less than 3-4 months this way.  6-7 months is not needed as long as you utilize the heat you have.  As they say heat rises.