is hybrid japanese / American YEW WOOD good for bows ??

[medicinewheel]

BTW. the development of the Japanese yumi started as a yew selfbow as far as I know, and the bows of the Ainu people of Japan were Yew selfbows as well.

[rockrush69]

okay guys I have figured out what this plant is I went to a local gardening store and I went to several nurseries up here and I have came to the conclusion that there are quite a few English yew trees that have been planted all over Green Bay Wisconsin as an ornamental as I have been speak texting this message on my phone as I Drive which is not a good thing to do by the way I have already passed at least 5 in people's yards so all I can say is check your area you may have a neighbor with a nice English yew tree ready to give you a nice trunk and there is a nice boW stave

[adb]

"I must add though , some yew species are tiny shrubs . Like canadian yew ."

Canadian yew (taxus canadensis), which is very similar to pacific yew (taxus brevifolia) is NOT a tiny shrub. It is a tree and grows quite large. I have seen a thousand year old Canadian yew tree. Because it's slow growing, it is not huge for an old tree, but it's still a tree, with the base of the tree over 40".

[WillS]

I've seen a breathtakingly perfect 160lb bow made from Canadian yew.  It's something I've since desperately wanted to try working worth.

By the way, scratch the idea of seasoning for a few months.  Put it away semi-shaped for a few years at least.  You can make a yew bow in a few months, but it won't be that punchy. 

[Springbuck]

  All I know about yew is that several varieties have been used for bows through the years.  Pacific, Canadian, English, Spanish (which I believe is just European, but could be wrong), Japanese, Irish (which is shrubby and covered with sticks.  And what I hear is that densisty, RPI,and the quality of the stave itself matter most.

[Lucasade]

By the way, scratch the idea of seasoning for a few months.  Put it away semi-shaped for a few years at least.  You can make a yew bow in a few months, but it won't be that punchy.

Presumably once it's stopped losing weight then it doesn't need seasoning any more? I know in the old days they put staves away for 7 years or something but I'm trying to work out what extra time beyond moisture equilibrium will add?

[rockrush69]

"I must add though , some yew species are tiny shrubs . Like canadian yew ."

Canadian yew (taxus canadensis), which is very similar to pacific yew (taxus brevifolia) is NOT a tiny shrub. It is a tree and grows quite large. I have seen a thousand year old Canadian yew tree. Because it's slow growing, it is not huge for an old tree, but it's still a tree, with the base of the tree over 40".

maybe I'm thinking of American Yew theN .. I thought the website said the Canadian version grows here in Wisconsin and doesn't get much taller than me high and the deer have almost completely wiped it out but I could have been mistaken there is a lot of different species I read it on Wikipedia

[rockrush69]

I've seen a breathtakingly perfect 160lb bow made from Canadian yew.  It's something I've since desperately wanted to try working worth.

By the way, scratch the idea of seasoning for a few months.  Put it away semi-shaped for a few years at least.  You can make a yew bow in a few months, but it won't be that punchy.

yeah then it must have been American yEw i read on wiki . as for me only seasoning it for a few months the reason I'm thinking that is because it was cut off and had no green growth on it for 5 years now it's very hard in appears very dry on the inside some of the parts that I actually cut off of the other side of it were decayed it was pretty much dead standing but it was in the middle of a bush basically for lack of a better way to say it it was surrounded by tree trunks that were full of green leaves so it barely ever got any sunlight if any at all and it was blocked from the wind I guess I was trying to say that I think it's already been seasoning for about 5 years I'm not really worried about it I have like threeother Northwest Pacific yew wood stave that I purchased... so i got more than enough YEW to play with lol

[JoJoDapyro]

"I must add though , some yew species are tiny shrubs . Like canadian yew ."

Canadian yew (taxus canadensis), which is very similar to pacific yew (taxus brevifolia) is NOT a tiny shrub. It is a tree and grows quite large. I have seen a thousand year old Canadian yew tree. Because it's slow growing, it is not huge for an old tree, but it's still a tree, with the base of the tree over 40".

maybe I'm thinking of American Yew theN .. I thought the website said the Canadian version grows here in Wisconsin and doesn't get much taller than me high and the deer have almost completely wiped it out but I could have been mistaken there is a lot of different species I read it on Wikipedia

How would deer wipe it out? Yew is poisonous, it would kill a deer dead if they ate it. Just curious.

[DC]

The elk and deer around here(Vancouver Island) eat it all the time. Couple of the nicest bonsai's I've seen were elk pruned yew.

[rockrush69]

"I must add though , some yew species are tiny shrubs . Like canadian yew ."

Canadian yew (taxus canadensis), which is very similar to pacific yew (taxus brevifolia) is NOT a tiny shrub. It is a tree and grows quite large. I have seen a thousand year old Canadian yew tree. Because it's slow growing, it is not huge for an old tree, but it's still a tree, with the base of the tree over 40".

maybe I'm thinking of American Yew theN .. I thought the website said the Canadian version grows here in Wisconsin and doesn't get much taller than me high and the deer have almost completely wiped it out but I could have been mistaken there is a lot of different species I read it on Wikipedia

How would deer wipe it out? Yew is poisonous, it would kill a deer dead if they ate it. Just curious.

They def eat it.  The berries are not poison just the seed inside and I'm pretty sure you have to choose the seed up for it to be poisonous I would not try it but I think if the seed is swallowed whole it will pass through your body without killing you

[Japbow]

      I've made a few good bows from Japanese Yew. I don't know the exact species name,
      but I live in Japan and harvested Yew, so we'll call it Japanese Yew...

      I've never used any other Yew, but I would agree with some of the other comments
      in that Yew is Yew. There's so much variation from tree to tree just depending on
      growing conditions within a single species that if you can find a decent looking piece
      of Yew, then it will probably make a good bow, wherever you are...

      @Medicinewheel...
           Where have you seen any documentation regarding Ainu bows? I am extremely
      interested in any Ainu archery, but have never heard of anything concrete. If you
      have any links or references send them my way!!!

      Japbow.

[Springbuck]

And BTW, different plants are poisonous to different animals.  What is toxic to humans may or may not be toxic to deer, depending on the digestive enzymes they produce, their liver function, and their gut bacteria microbiome.

[paco664]

yew guys must be kidding..  *(sorry... i had to...)