common or irish yew for bowwood?

[sieddy]

Hi guys i wonder if anybody has any insight into the above topic? I've been lucky enough to find good looking potential bow staves on both Common and Irish Yew trees and am wondering which to go for. Given how hard it is to cut a thick yew branch with a folding saw i don't really want to cut unecessarily!

[wizardgoat]

Isn't Irish yew same as English yew? Not sure what common yew is, but as far as I know, and species of yew will make a bow if its a good enough stave. Seal your ends and forget about them for a while

[Pat B]

The Irish yew I'm familiar with(landscape cultivar) has branches from the soil up and grows in a narrow, conical shape. One would have to deal with lots of knots if he were going to build a bow from the Irish yew I know.

[dwardo]

Yew is yew.

Good yew is great, bad yew is less so and you wont know until you cut it.

[sieddy]

Cheers for the comments fellas- for my money the irish yew looks better but the common (english) has got the amazing little berries that look like cups!
Anyway i'm anglo/irish so i guess i'll have to cut both and feed back on the results!
/

[Crogacht]

All Yew species have those red berries, but only the female ones

[Del the cat]

Yew is yew.

Good yew is great, bad yew is less so and you wont know until you cut it.

+1
Even botanists have trouble identifying trees. Shape doesn't mean zip. Just because it's been pruned into a conical shape doesn't mean there isn't good timber there.
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/early-fathers-day-adventure.html
I've had a couple of good bows from the wood I got that day.
On the other hand I've had Yew cut from ancient woodland that was pretty poor... I've had limbs from trees in the same forrest 200 yards apart, totally different to work with.
Some fast growing 'landscape Yew' may be poor, but it may be good... same applies to any other Yew.
Del

[Crogacht]

I guess at the end of the day, a Yew tree doesn't know it's supposed to be a bow as it's laying down growth rings 

[sieddy]

I've not worked with it much yet but i'm already totally in love it yew!   

[PatM]

Most landscape Yew trees are merely cultivars of the parent species which are then given fancy names according to origin or shape.

[Pat B]

I guess I've never seen a mature Irish yew tree. I can see from Del's blog pics its the same tree that I'm familiar with but more mature than I've ever seen. In it younger stages, Irish yew I've seen does have a narrow conical shape with branches from the ground up.

[George Tsoukalas]

Irish yew is for landscaping.
http://www.pnwplants.wsu.edu/PlantDisplay.aspx?PlantID=463
I have some in my yard.
Is it bow worthy? Not the ones in my yard.
Jawge

[Pat B]

That's the form I'm familiar with George. 

[Jim Davis]

According  to good  sources I  have read, even  in  the heyday of the  ELB, England got her staves from Spain--there were not enough yews  in England to make any difference and those were too limby  to be  useful.

"Good English" yew was imported.

Jim  Davis (who  can cite sources if nagged...I'd have to go researching again.)

[sieddy]

In some of the old woodlands round here there are some conical shaped yew trees which are very mature and have clean long and thick branches. Hopefully it will have thin sapwood and nice ornge heartwood!