Author Topic: Sapwood in yew, how thick?  (Read 3246 times)

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Offline Salvador 06

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Sapwood in yew, how thick?
« on: July 13, 2014, 09:00:42 pm »
I got a great piece of yew at the North American Longbow Safari and need some advice since I've never worked with yew before.

The sapwood is about 3/8" through most of the length, with some slight variations.   Is this amount of sapwood acceptable?  What would be optimum? 

I was thinking about 1/4" but have no experience with yew.  Advice is welcome and appreciated.
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Offline Del the cat

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    • Derek Hutchison Native Wood Self Bows
Re: Sapwood in yew, how thick?
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2014, 02:55:17 am »
Bearing in mind a Warbow is about 1/2" round at the nock then 3/8 sapwood is ok as there is still some heartwood.
It is a big advantage if you can leave the natural untouched sapwood as the back because it will we flawless.
Remove the bark, but leave the pinkish brown cambium/under bark on the bow. It will pop off once you start tillering*, leaving a perfect clean sapwood back.
You can reduce the sapwood to 1/4" but it is a lot of hard work.
Del
*There is a post from my blog here which shows what I mean:-
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/dealing-with-dip.html
Health warning, these posts may contain traces of nut.

Offline Salvador 06

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Re: Sapwood in yew, how thick?
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2014, 12:24:50 pm »
Thanks Del, I think I'll just leave it alone.
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