Strange yew ring

[DC]

This stave has a thicker outer ring. It looks like it's already boo backed. I never noticed until I started reducing the sapwood so it has to come off. The outer ring looks like it's all late wood. You can see the color difference on the first picture and the thickness on the second. In the first picture the scraping starts at the pencil line so you can see that the hard ring is the full thickness off the next rings. It took a long time to scrape through. Has anyone else seen anything like this? I'm thinking it may have made a better bow if I had noticed it.

[penderbender]

I have not seen one quite that thick. It does look like all late wood too. How thick is it? Cheers- Brendan

[DC]

 Around 1/16"

[upstatenybowyer]

I love Yew (the tree that is, although you seem like a great guy DC  ). But seriously, every piece is different, and always full of character. Look forward to seeing what you do with it!

[High-Desert]

Rings that thick are rare. I've seen them that thick in heart wood, so a long time ago it was sapwood. But I wouldn't say it would have been better to leave it, but it would have been easier. Early and late wood are strong in yew. So ring thickness isn't all that important. "They" say thin ringed is better, but I've yet to see a noticeable difference. Looking forward to seeing this bow done.

Eric

[DC]

The sapwood was too thick on this stave and I would have run out of heartwood if I hadn't thinned it. I was well into thinning the sapwood when I noticed this so it's all gone now. This will be an ordinary Yew bow. I messed around bending some offcuts that still had the ring attached but they really weren't substantial enough to make a call. One piece bent in half crushing the heartwood and another went off like a rifle shot. The first had less heartwood than the second and I was bending it hard. It's hard to tell if you are bending a little stick more than a bow bends. I'll be keeping my eyes open for this in the future.
 I collected it in July 2014 which was one of the hottest dryest summers on record here. I think 2013 was dry too and maybe the years just ran into each other. It would have to be two years because of the thickness. If that's the case I should maybe see the same thing on other trees that I collected then, if i have any left. I'll break out my 10X loupe and take a good look. Maybe there are two rings.

[DC]

Here is the best picture I can get. The outer ring is one ring and you can see(barely) that it's about the thickness of one years growth. There are two rings in the lighter sapwood. It looks like an Osage ring

[wizardgoat]

Don I have seen this a few times. Like you I removed the ring and it made a bow

[DuBois]

Strange yew

Wasn't that a Cream song?

[DC]

If you have chronic lyricosis like I do, yes, it is.

[Del the cat]

Not seen it quite that pronounced, but I often see Yew with what looks like alternate heartwood sapwood rings, sort of inbetween wood where it can't decide if it's heart or sap (maybe it's lady wood? ).
Bow I've just finished. Just above the splice there is some of that stuff showing.
Del

[DC]

Just some kind of an aberration I guess. It was(as well as I can remember) just a normal healthy young yew. None of my others have it.