Author Topic: Yew longbow build-along low budget style  (Read 8299 times)

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Offline Colindemo

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Re: Yew longbow build-along low budget style
« Reply #15 on: August 12, 2014, 05:33:28 am »
Thanks fpr your advice, Del. I wish i would have had an afternoon in your workshop as well but unfortunately you are half a world away :D

If i continue tillering after the heat treating will the bend not re-appear because one side of the bow is weaker?
« Last Edit: August 12, 2014, 06:39:22 am by Colindemo »
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Offline Del the cat

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Re: Yew longbow build-along low budget style
« Reply #16 on: August 12, 2014, 06:59:26 am »
Thanks fpr your advice, Del. I wish i would have had an afternoon in your workshop as well but unfortunately you are half a world away :D

If i continue tillering after the heat treating will the bend not re-appear because one side of the bow is weaker?
Ah, but you don't know that the problem is caused by one side being much weaker, it could just be the string line was slightly out.
Heat treating and a bit of sideways correction at the same time may well sort it out. I have no crystal ball... try it and see, take it easy, if it starts bending sideways again, the repeat the process with a bit more bend correction.
As the bow get to brace height and starts flexing more it will tend to continue to flex in the direction you get it moving in now, so once you get it started going the right way it will follow. It's a bit like training a cat ;)
Bear in mind, the bendy area is also your hinge so you don't really want to be removing any wood from there. If to need to ease off one side of the belly, maybe do it just a inboard of the hinge area... (e.g towards the handle)
Del
« Last Edit: August 12, 2014, 07:05:09 am by Del the cat »
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Offline DarkSoul

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Re: Yew longbow build-along low budget style
« Reply #17 on: August 12, 2014, 07:24:03 am »
Del has given some solid advice. Listen to him.

One major problem with your stave, is that you messed up the thickness taper. A bow (and especially a longbow) needs to have a fluent thickness taper. The handle is the thickest point (and the widest too in a longbow) and the thickness should reduce gradually towards the tips. The final few inches of the tips can be a little bit thicker again, so you can make them narrower, but in a longbow they are generally the thinnest point. Everything in between needs to follow the thickness taper from thick handle to thinner tips. If the back has a bulge, due to a knot that was nearby, the belly should follow this bulge. You didn't do that. You shaved the belly flat. That created a thick point at the knot, and a thin spot directly after the knot, where the sapwood dips down. Tape a caliper and measure the thickness taper carefully. In order to get a good thickness taper, it is possible to remove sapwood as well. You don't have to stick to the belly side, as Del explained. Just make sure you don't step through several rings at once, causing a steep angle ring violation.
That purple discoloration worries me a little bit. It happens quite a lot in yew, especially near dead wood, such as knot inclusions. Usually it's a not a problem, but that grey discoloration of the sapwood near that purple spot is a bit worrisome. Also because that is right in the middle, where the bow is currently bending too much.

You are welcome in my workshop near Hilversum this weekend. That's probably a bit closer to you than Del, who lives in the UK :D Although I don't know nearly as much about yew as Del does, I've made quite a few yew bows and should be able to help you out. Hilversum shouldn't be too far away from you. You would be welcome either next Saturday or Sunday. Please let me know.
"Sonuit contento nervus ab arcu."
Ovid, Metamorphoses VI-286

Offline Del the cat

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Re: Yew longbow build-along low budget style
« Reply #18 on: August 12, 2014, 07:51:26 am »
Nice one Dark Soul :), you covered some vital points that I wanted to say but left out to keep my post manageable.
Yeah that pink colour looks great but like you say is usually hiding a nasty surprise underneath it!
Dek
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Offline Colindemo

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Re: Yew longbow build-along low budget style
« Reply #19 on: August 12, 2014, 01:24:20 pm »
Thank you both for your advice, i will start heat treating this evening and will post my results here.

P.s. Darksoul, I send you a Facebook request so we can talk about me coming to visit your workshop
Made and bred in Holland, please return if found