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Author Topic: Japanese yew  (Read 4253 times)

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Offline Swamp Thang

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Japanese yew
« on: December 13, 2017, 08:10:53 pm »
Any thoughts on Japanese yew?
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Offline mullet

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2017, 08:56:50 pm »
Podecarpist? Not sure about the spelling. It's supposed to be good. I have a pipe straight 3" sapling that's getting ready to meet Mr. Bandsaw.
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Lakeland, Florida
 If you have to pull the trigger, is it really archery?

Offline Pat B

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2017, 08:58:58 pm »
I have a piece I cut a few years ago on a landscape job but haven't messed with it.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Badger

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2017, 09:01:34 pm »
 Porta carpus is African I believe. I know it is a relative of yew. I had some several years ago and was not impressed with it. Mine was very light and soft I don't think I ever made a bow from it.
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Offline mullet

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2017, 09:05:43 pm »
Thanks for the spelling, Steve. The stave I have has cured for 5 years and is pretty heavy. It was given to me last year by another member.
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Lakeland, Florida
 If you have to pull the trigger, is it really archery?

Offline joachimM

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2017, 04:05:02 pm »
there is actually also japanese yew, Taxus cuspidata, which is a different thing from Podocarpus macrophyllus, but very similar to pacific (T brevifolia) and Eurasian yew (T baccata).

If the berries are red, it's taxus. If they are blue, it's Podocarpus.
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Offline Swamp Thang

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2017, 07:37:58 pm »
Quote from: joachimM on December 14, 2017, 04:05:02 pm
there is actually also japanese yew, Taxus cuspidata, which is a different thing from Podocarpus macrophyllus, but very similar to pacific (T brevifolia) and Eurasian yew (T baccata).

If the berries are red, it's taxus. If they are blue, it's Podocarpus.

"Yew" know what I'm talking about I have access to some limbs a fat sapling and two big trees didn't know if the haven't would be worth it
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Offline PatM

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2017, 07:45:06 pm »
Landscape yews are often hybrids of Baccata and Cuspidata.
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2017, 09:07:03 am »
I don't care for it. Like Steve, I found it very soft with huge rings. I wasted ALOT of time on making limbs for a 3 piece only to have it literally crumble at the first sign of flexing. I wont try it again.
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Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline PatM

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2017, 09:40:24 am »
Actual Japanese Yew?  Every scrap of ornamental Yew I have test bent has shown remarkable bending qualities. 
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2017, 10:43:51 am »
Not sure which variety, but it wasn't "yew". It came from a yard in PA. I can assume ornamental.
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Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline mullet

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2017, 12:23:51 pm »
i'm not sure what kind I have, but it's heavy and cured.
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Lakeland, Florida
 If you have to pull the trigger, is it really archery?

Limbit

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Re: Japanese yew
« Reply #12 on: December 16, 2017, 04:57:44 am »
Japanese Yew (T.Cuspidata) has been documented as being used by the Hokkaido aboriginals (Ainu). It should work just fine. I live in Taiwan which is just south of Japan and and we have T. Chinensis. I've used this and was surprised that even though it had an intense ring count well over 40 rings per inch and all the other characteristics of other yew trees I've used, it couldn't handle tension at all. I tried several samples of it as well and all were near perfect. I'm still scratching my head as to why. I even gifted a nice (and expensive!) stave to my aboriginal archery teacher and he had the same issues. Could be climate factors I suppose, but it was a serious bummer since the stuff is notoriously hard to get here and is now illegal to cut. The aboriginal archers I talked to about it seemed to disregard it as a bow wood. Maybe someone else has tried this species from the Mainland with different results, but I've never heard anything about it.
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