Old Yew Bow

[Buck67]

I picked up an old Yew longbow over the weekend.  It is 72" long, has an arrow shelf and has what appears to be an ivory sighting aid adhered to the belly of the bow.  The ivory is engraved with the name Folberth.  Not sure how old this bow is but Folberth was making bows and bow accessories from about 1933 into the 70's.

Ivory became illegal to sell (with some exceptions) in the US in 1973 so this bow predates that time.

Anyway, the bow has sat for a long time unstrung and did not come with a bow string.  I want to shoot the bow but I was wondering how best to get the wood to get used to active duty again.  So far all I have done is go over the bow with a coat of a Linseed Oil, Turpentine and Vinegar mix that I have used for years on other wood items.  I have some B50 string material that I want to use for a Flemish twist bowstring and my plan is to make the bow string 70 inches long.

I tried to post photos yesterday but apparently it didn't work.  So I thought I would post the question to at least start getting some advice.

[Aaron H]

Sounds pretty cool, got any pictures?

[Badger]

   If yew gets too dried out it will gain some weight. You could set it at a low brace height and slowly excersize it up in draw length. Monitor the weight as you go and how much it gains an inch. If it looks like it has picked up some weight it might be too dry. I have had pretty good luck with old yew bows going right back into service. Too dry is the biggest enemy if you don't know where it was stored.

[PatM]

Better to not string it. The bow could be rather rare and of some value. By the 40s most bowyers had moved to laminated bows so this bow likely predates that time.
  Keep in mind that Folberth sights were found on bows by other manufacturers. Here is a bow by Pierson from the Grayson museum that has a Folberth sight.
 http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/grayson/modernarchery/1994-0936bow.shtml
 

[JW_Halverson]

If you can't find a way to get the photos posted here, you will be inundated with people asking you to email them the pics!!! 

Since most of us can't read, myself included, we love to look at the pretty pictures!  And pretty pictures of old yew bows are the best!  Congratulations on such a great find. Be cautious with this one, please.

[adb]

 

[Carson (CMB)]

Posting pics is kind of a pain.  It has to be under a max size of 200KB.  A lot of guys use a remote hosting site such as photobucket to host the photo, from there you can copy and paste an "image tag" into your txt of your post, and then when you post, your picture will appear there. 

Are there any markings indicating draw weight? 

If you plan to shoot it, you have to be prepared for the possibility that it could break.  If it was well made and free of damage or exposure it should be able to be brought back into service.  If it has been exposed to hot or dry conditions for any period of time in recent time, then allow it several weeks at moderate humidity (40-60%) before stringing. Otherwise, give the bow some gentle test bends by hand to check for any ticking or cracking sounds. If it checks out, then you can proceed to brace it.  Let it rest a bit at brace.  While braced, check the back of the bow for lifting splinters...a cotton rag is good for this.  If it checks out, proceed with slowly exercising the bow. When pulling on the string do so from a nocking point, as if you were actually shooting, rather than just grabbing the string somewhere near the middle.  Work it out to full draw.  Not a bad idea to fling some arrows from it during the process at progressively longer draw lengths.  I wouldn't push the bow past 28"
If you hear any ticking or strange noise, stop immediately, if you cant eliminate that the source of noise was the string in the nock grooves, then hang it on the wall. 

Make the string 3-4" shorter than the nock to nock distance. 

Good luck!

[Buck67]

Well let's see if this will work.  Every website seems to do photos differently.

[Don Case]

To me, it looks like the ivory is on the back. How would that be used for a sight?
Don

[Buckeye Guy]

I am leaning towards agreeing with Pat about not stringing this one
Normally I feel that a bow you won't shoot ain't worth calling a bow but this is a bit different than normal
I see no reason at this time to try to put a string on it
Please consider this carefully over time , if you have no use for a bow you can't shoot resell it !
Guy

[WillS]

I'd call that a collectors item and be super careful with it.  It's beautiful, as all old yew becomes, and the risk of breaking it is not worth shooting it IMO.

I am intrigued by the sight too.  It's clearly attached to the sapwood.  Seems impractical, unless somebody has taken it off, and replaced it wrongly?

[PatM]

Look at the link I posted. That's where the sight device goes. I think there is supposed to be some sort of sliding pin on it that perhaps runs in  grooves on the side of the ivory and pokes out of the window side. You can see the elevation numbers marked on the back, each surely corresponding to a known yardage.

 Here's a pic of another Folberth with the same sight.  Zoom in and you can see the extra piece that appears to be missing from the bow on here.
 http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/grayson/modernarchery/1994-0946bow.shtml

[Buck67]

The guy that had this bow and several other old bows said that the sight was used with straight pins.  They were wedged between the ivory and the wood and stuck out beyond the bow so that they could be seen when shooting.  That would make for an infinitely adjustable vertical sight.  If you used long pins with a long stem you could also adjust for windage.

[Aaron H]

Wow, that is awesome. Yew really gets beautiful with age

[Buck67]

I have owned and shot 200 year old flintlocks and I intended to care for and shoot this bow.  If wiser heads say I might damage it then I will leave it alone.  However, I don't collect old bows.  Is anyone interested in trading a new bow for an old one?