yew sapwood too thick?

[dwardo]

This one was mostly sapwood and performed very well indeed with little to no set.

[Aaron H]

Nice bow dwardo,  What is the draw weight and dimensions on that?

[WillS]

Dwardo, that's gorgeous dude! Very nice bow. 

I've found very little drawback to keeping the sapwood thicker.  I love seeing cambium on the back of a yew bow so very often I'll leave the sapwood exactly as it is even if it ends up almost half an inch thick in places.  I've yet to see this cause more set than usual or significantly decrease performance over a similar bow with much less sapwood.  I've got a warbow that came out around 120# - 125# that has 1/8" sapwood on one side and over half an inch in places on the other due to having to lay out the bow across the stave rather than straight down the crown, and it's not suffered as a result.

I think yew is one of those few woods that's perfect for making mistakes on.  You can really chew it up and make a mess of chasing a ring or violating knots and it'll hang on in there like a champ letting you learn without too much heartbreak.  It's always better to chase a ring as Mike said, as it gives you peace of mind that it won't be splinters lifting to cause a failure (it'll just be something else  ) and of course it does look a whole lot neater with one continuous back ring, but with yew it's really not vital.  It's almost purely an aesthetic issue at "normal" draw weights - if you want more heartwood in the finished bow take the sap down a bit, but don't expect sudden miraculous performance increase as a result. 

[dwardo]

Nice bow dwardo,  What is the draw weight and dimensions on that?

Guessing but around 62ntn and mid 50`s at 27.

I too believe yew is one of those woods that you can get away with a lot. Some of Del`s stuff is more patch work, plug work than original wood yet he still managed to get a bow from it. I do wonder if it was one of the reasons yew was favoured in the past over other woods.

I have a bunch of yew staves I am roughing out at the moment where I could have made a whole other bow just from the sapwood as it was 2+ inches thick in some places. I bandsawed most of it off and took to the rest with a micro-pane rasp (which are revolutionary by the way).

[WillS]

I think it's more down to the fact that yew can tolerate European climate far better than white wood bows.  I reckon once you reach a certain level of skill it doesn't matter too much what wood you're working with, but if ash and other meane wood bows suck up moisture and lose performance and go soggy everytime it rains, while yew doesn't seem to be affected as much, it makes more sense to use yew.  My thoughts, anyway!

[Aaron H]

Hey Dwardo, explain this micro plane rasp to me

[dwardo]

These things are just magical. Require no pressure, weight nothing and don't clog up or need brush cleaning. If you are working damp wood especially elm then they can start to clog but easily removed with your finger. I have the coarse and fine half rounds and both flats. Amazing bit of kit that just hogs wood off. Too fast sometimes, still getting used to them.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/microplane-snap-in-rasp-handles

[Aaron H]

What do you think about the fine tooth rasp?  Does it still take wood off too fast?   I'm looking for something that takes very minimal amounts of material off, but also something that leaves a very clean surface with minimal clean up required.

[WillS]

You're describing a scraper aren't you? Takes fine shavings off and leaves a smooth, almost polished finish.

[Aaron H]

In a way, I guess I am.  I have one of those already, I just like to have multiple options

[WillS]

It's funny - when I first started making bows I spent a fortune on a huge set of tools that I figured I'd need.  I bought rasps, files, various shapes of scrapers, drawknives, spokeshaves, knives, hatchets and so on.  Now I probably only use 4 at maximum - hatchet and drawknife for bringing a stave down to bow size, then dreadnaught file for everything else until the bow is half tillered, and then just a rectangular scraper.  Rarely do I feel the need to reach for anything else! 

I did buy a power-planer to reduce staves quicker which usually gets used in the place of a hatchet, but other than that, not much!

[Aaron H]

Hi, my name is Aaron and I am an addict.  I'm addicted to tools!

[dwardo]

Just realised about the advertising thing. I have no connection to Axminster except using them my self. Please remove the post if its a problem.
For me its an axe, drawknife and rasp then onto a scraper. Maybe some sandpaper to make it look shiny