Would Yaw Use It?

[arachnid]

Hi guys.

I got it contact with a carpenter here in Israel that imports wood from England.
I found this yew board and like to heare your opinion. I`ll mention that the wood is air dried (not kiln dried).
Since I only use "common" woods that are imported regularly by dealers (white oak, ipe etc...)
using yew will be a kind of exiting for me. Problem is, this board is kind of pricey....
So, here are the pics....


The board is long and wide enough for several bows. the heartwood near the edges has pretty straight grain (a bit of a swirl that I can place at the handle section).
The center has some cracks. If I`ll take it, I plan to back it with bamboo. I`ll mention that on the other side, it seems to have benn cut through the rings so the grain is not
that stright, but thats the belly side.



Here`s a close up:




So, what do you think? Is yew realy worth the money and effort, of should I stick with ipe, bamboo and oak?

Thanks,

Dor.

[Peacebow_Coos]

Depends on what he wants, but I can see some bows in there...

[Del the cat]

If I didn't have to pay for it I'd use it .
The problem with mold is you can't tell how deep it goes some may wipr off but maybe it goes deep into it...
You need to run a plane over it or saw off a thin sliver. Certainly makes great bellies if its sound timber.
Del

[Hamish]

What you need to do is check the grain on the edge of the board. If it is straight  then that board should yield some bows. If the gain crosses sharply from one edge to the other it won't be worth the risk for a bow, even if backed.
As you already have access to ipe, and boo then I probably wouldn't bother with the yew if is really expensive.
I admit yew is my favourite type of wood for a target bow because it is so light in the hand, yet has a great cast, but it might not be the right wood for Israel's hot, dry climate.
                             Hamish.

[arachnid]

Thanks a lot guys..... I realy wanted to try something different but I`ll save the money to buy a decent drawknife (I have mulberry billets just waiting to become a bow). Maybe someone can send my some billets of staves?
I need to check the law regurding personal import of rew material though....

[DarkSoul]

Importation of wood is probably no problem, as long as the bark has been removed.


I would not buy that board of yew, if I were you. There are many checks around the center of the board, but also radiating outwards. These checks will drastically reduce the amount of usable wood. The rings are also very course, which is not the best in yew. This low ring count will still make a decent bow, but it's not nearly as good as high ring count wood. The boundary between sapwood and heartwood is also not very sharp, which is again typical to course, lower quality yew. The sapwood also waves quite a bit, indicating a number of knots and swirls.

[bow101]

I had a piece of yew, about 7" wide 8' long 2" thick,  I could not get one bow out of it, twisted gnarly grain, knots to short for one piece bows and the 30" lengths for limbs all twisted up.  Total garbage,  I paid $30 for it.  Not a huge loss but I could of bought good 20'  1 x 3 of  maple at the lumber store for that........