Deflexed yew stave - ideas for design?

[Aksel]

Hi all

I have a yew stave about 68" long. It´s deflexed about 2 1/4 ". It is only 1" thick but very dense and tight ringed, well aged Swiss yew.

Such a nice piece of wood but the deflex + the lack of thickness makes me unsure what to do with it, so if anybody got an interesting idea let us know!

[Pat B]

Depending where the deflex is you could reflex or recurve the outer limbs. Will you post a pic of the deflex.

[Del the cat]

ELB with reflex added  to outer 1/3, or flipped tips.
I have a big deflex English Yew stave that I'm thinking of making into a 120# Warbow with some reflex at the ends. Some of the Mary Rose bows had reflexed ends... but hard to know if that was due to being under the mud for so long...
Del

[Aksel]

Here it is Pat, quite evenly deflexed, a bit more on one side though.

I realise I will have to reflex some part of it. One of my favourite bows is a 59" bend in the handle deflexed bow with flipped tips with flat cross section.  One option is to see if I can improve that design.

Del, looking forward seeing you build that bow! I´m considering an ELB but also thinking if I should try something I´ve never tried before.

any suggestions welcome!

[Del the cat]

Nice stave, only a slight deflex...That'll look gorgeous kept wide with both heart and sapwood showing on the belly
Del

[Selfbowman]

Haven’t worked with yew much but I would reflex the ends to one inch in front of the back of the handle.

[willie]

is yew and sinew a good combo?

leave belly as is and tiller back/sapwood, then add sinew and let dry while pulled into reflex

[Aksel]

Nice stave, only a slight deflex...That'll look gorgeous kept wide with both heart and sapwood showing on the belly
Del

Yes the heart wood on this yew is very dark red so should look very nice. Only issue is the thickness of 1 inch.. Can still be made stiff though if not too narrow.

[Aksel]

Haven’t worked with yew much but I would reflex the ends to one inch in front of the back of the handle.

 Would you do that with dry heat on 12 year old well dried yew?

[Aksel]

is yew and sinew a good combo?

leave belly as is and tiller back/sapwood, then add sinew and let dry while pulled into reflex

interesting idea, but I´ve never used sinew so I am not going to try it on this

[Selfbowman]

Haven’t worked with yew much but I would reflex the ends to one inch in front of the back of the handle.

 Would you do that with dry heat on 12 year old well dried yew?

Like I said I haven’t done that many yew bows so not sure to use dry heat or steam. On Osage yes.

[Aksel]

I started reducing the stave and found a huge check running along half the stave. After prying that off the stave is now 1,3 ” wide so something longbow-like with reflexed tips looking most likely

[superdav95]

Still lots of room for a great bow there.  I’m just finishing up a little bow now that’s similar dimensions width wise and it pulls plenty hard and shoots well.  Yew sometimes gets a bad rap for being tricky to get right.  I think most of the issues likely arise from overheating on corrections.  Respecting the wood and dealing with knots is another thing too.  Delta has a number of great video tutorials on this.  I’ve come to love yew.  It’s magical stuff.  Best of luck with your build.  Looking forward to more

[Aksel]

Superdave95, I saw your post, beautiful bows! But i dont have 1 5/8" but only 1 1/4 and 1" thick so perhaps slightly too little room for a flatbow.

Agree about yew though. Magical stuff. Will be carefull with corrections !