garden yew log

[Richard B]

I cut a 5.5" diameter log from the yew tree in my back garden over the weekend. I have split the log in half and coated the ends with wood glue. One half is pretty straight and free of knots and I am hoping to get two good billets of around 45" out of it. The other half has two branches but I should be able to get a couple of 18" sections out which I am hoping to do some TBB style bend tests to give me an idea of properties and help guide my bow layout and target weight (I might also try to get our materials lab at work to do some tests on separate samples of sapwood and heartwood for my own interest).

Question is: Do I leave the half log to dry as it is, or do I split/cut it into quarters and clamp them to a board to dry?

I am concerned that if I leave the half log for a time and then split it later, the resulting quarters will be asymmetrically dried and will warp sideways, whereas if I split it now I can make sure that any further reduction into staves is done symmetrically and so they dry more evenly all around. What do you think?

The pictures show the tree, the place I cut the log from and the resulting half log. The tree is on top of a traditional Devon hedge over a sunken lane at the back of our house. I imagine it was allowed to grow after cutting a few hundred years ago(?) and now has a number of trunks from a few feet above the ground. We have owned the house for about 20 years and I am rather fond of this tree, so dont want to wast this wood if I can avoid it!

[wizardgoat]

I usually leave my logs whole for 2-3 months, end sealed, then split.
leave it in the half log for another few months before reducing anymore.
Lots of my yew that I split too soon deflexed on me real bad, so I wait now.
id make a westcoast style paddle bow out of it

[Del the cat]

I usually season as half a log. Mind even fully seasoned they will move a bit when quartered due to the tension in the wood.
Nice looking wood.
Del

[Richard B]

Thanks for the advice. I cut a holly log into 3/4" planks years ago straight after felling (for model building - holly has a lovely, almost microscopic grain), and they warped quite a bit. So it might have been a good idea to have left them in the log for a bit.
My concern over the half log is that it will dry from the outside inwards and when it is split into quarters one side of the quarter will be dryer (and hence will have contracted) compared with the side that was on the inside. This would then cause the 1/4 log to bend towards the dryer side?
Does that make sense?
Is there any way to combat that?
One thought was to make a saw cut into the back, say half way through, to allow air to get at the inside of the log, while holding the two quarters in place while they dry. That way, when I complete the cut, the quarters might be a bit more evenly dried around their circumference and less likely to warp.
Does that seem sensible?