Pac Yew Design layout

[bigcountry]

A friend is sending me a pac yew stave from washington state.  I have tried to read everything I can on yew.  I have made osage bow and turned out nice.  But yew sounds totally different. 

Like how much sapwood should be left on for a good combo of tension from it and compression from heartwood?  Is a bow made from heartwood only (leftover from stave) a good bow?

I am also interested in good safe bow designs from Yew.  Like design shape, limb width and contours to try. I am not so interested in english warbows but more for hunting with a flat belly.  I am 6'2" and have a 29" draw length.  And generally shoot 55lb longbows.

Any ideas or tips?

[DCM]

I've only done one yew bow.  My advice would be to wait until the stave arrives and then find a design that best fits that stave.  While the yew elb is the classic design, the yew billets I had were better suited to a flatbow.  On the sapwood, again the stave may determine the answer.  I've heard people say they leave it up to 3/8", this typically on deeper cored elbs though.  Wish I had more yew to work with, but it's pretty expensive an I'm butt deep in osage anyway.  Heartwood can be used like any other core, with a backing of hickory or bamboo.

[bigcountry]

Thanks, I will post more about the stave when I get it.  He likes to back everything with sinew.  And suggests I do the same.

[Gordon]

No need to back yew with sinew unless you are utilizing a short limb design. If you want to back it for safety, use rawhide - it's much easier than sinew.

[Blacktail]

i hope you get a nice one out of it..i would leave the sap wood on.no point in doing extra work...john

[bigcountry]

i hope you get a nice one out of it..i would leave the sap wood on.no point in doing extra work...john

From what I read, thats the advantage of yew is the sapwood is awesome in tension and heartwood is great in comperssion.  I just didn't know the max to leave on. 

I was readin in the trad bible vol 1, about thier layout for a yew bow.  Anyone ever built that layout?

[shamus]

It depends on the quality of the yew that you have. How many growth rings per inch do you have?  High elevation equals tighter rings, which yields better wood.

You want 55# @ 29"? For a flat bow: try a 68-70" length. My draw is 30" and I find that 70" works well.

Sapwood: you can thin it or leave it natural. I tend to leave it as-is.
Sinew: don’t need it.

TBB1 has a great yew flatbow design. I've used a variation of it and it works great. I was written by John Strunk and the man knows yew.

 To keep it simple, I'd leave the sapwood natural, use the design in TBB1 (flat belly), and make the bow 68-70" long.   

[bigcountry]

Ok, I thought the sapwood had great tension but bad compression and you wanted a certain ratio.  So is there any reason to thin it at all?  I know some leave on 3/16" or something like that. 

Thanks for the info.

[shamus]

A rule of thumb (remember, every piece of wood is different, though):

sapwood/heartwood ratios:

Flatbow limbs: 1:2
Narrow deep cross-section (english D bows) : 1:4
 

[majsnuff]

Hi, I live next door to Washington in Idaho. Have access to yew on a regular basis. Have made a few bows. Some with sinew, some rawhide, some self backed. All work, all can fail.
I agree with the comment above, wait till the stave arrives, post some pics and stats, check moisture content, then build.
So far the best looking one I have built is backed with Choke Cherry Bark. 74" NTN 45lb@28" Deer antler nocks. Shoots sweet but developed almost 2" string follow since I built it in 2005.
Whatever you build. Have fun.

[shamus]

Let us know what kind of wood you have when it comes in. The quality of the yew will affect your desgin considerations.