Yew sapwood thinning

[stuckinthemud]

I have a yew stave with 10mm thick sapwood. I’d like to reduce this by 5 or 6mm but that would take the stave to exactly the right thickness at the centre with absolutely no room for error.  If I take 4mm then tiller it, can I reduce the draw weight by thinning out the sapwood?

[superdav95]

Yes you can.  I just did this actually on a recent yew build.  I was aiming for 1:3 ratio sapwood to heartwood on finished bow and still got my target weight of 50.  After I tillered bow and it was looking good as far as bend goes but was at 55 lbs.  I didn’t want to remove any more of my heartwood to keep my ratios close so I went and removed just a bit more sapwood with sandpaper 150 grit and it got me to where I wanted.  What I did to make sure I didn’t sand too much in one spot I put light pencil marks on the surface. I would sand those marks off and recheck it and repeat till done.  I then covered my bow with a thin rawhide to protect the soft sapwood.  Hope that helps.  Good luck.  Yew is magical stuff. 

[Hamish]

How much depth at the handle would you have if you remove the sapwood to your ideal thickness? 6mm sapwood is probably a little too thick for a 50lber, unless its low density yew.

What style of bow are you intending to build?