Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: radius on February 04, 2010, 04:53:34 pm
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Hi guys...
I've been in England the last couple months and haven't made any bows. But i have collected a number of staves of taxus baccata, English Yew...In england, yew grows everywhere (for a country with only 6 trees in it, anyway!). My new wife took me to a nearby graveyard where i saw many overgrown yew trees. The vicar's phone # was posted on the sign at the gate. A quick phone call later, i had permission to "take as much as i wanted". Guess he didn't know what that means to me!
It's all branches...so i'm going to try my hand at asymmetrical bows for awhile, with longer upper limbs than lower limbs. Hmm...now i just gotta ship them home to Canada...
Scott
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/English%20Yew/Picture003.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/English%20Yew/Picture004.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/English%20Yew/Picture011.jpg)
(http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/English%20Yew/Picture013.jpg)
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welcome back Scott!!!!!!!!! You gotta lotta catchin up to do... ;D -josh
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I know, Josh! i was just cruising through the threads...been about 25 pages worth since i posted anything...man i am dying to scrape some wood...
i gotta get some pics of my father in law with his yew recurve...he LOVES it...
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Brilliant way of getting yew :)
Let them season well. Even branches like to crack. I've got a few myself. Looking forward to seeing what you get out of them branch-bows are not the easiest kind.
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the vicar said, "If anyone stops you and asks what you are up to, just tell them you and i have spoken and you have my full endorsement." Englishmen love yew bows, no way around it.
I had thought that branch bows were the original bows?
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hey scott,good to see you guys are welll.great to hear about the yew...so,did you meet any bowyers over there...i bet it was a fun trip...i would love to go some day..john
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Welcome back, radius. Got some pics of yew? Jawge
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Radius, you hardly are empty handed if you got all that graveyard yew. Getting it home though should be an adventure. Suppose the wood is haunted? Trees that grow in graveyards are darkly nourished :)
Did you hook up with that Pip fellow? I recall you talked to him about working in his shop. Did that work out, or at least you meet him and see his shop?
Dane
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Welcome back. Just how are you getting those staves back? I visit England from time to time with family there...
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Bloody Canadians coming over here and stealing all our yew ::)
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Bloody Canadians coming over here and stealing all our yew ::)
Made I larf...
Maybe we should go over there and steal some Moose , Mooses? Mice?
Oh, yeah Radius, some pics would be good, just so we can see if your idea of a good stave is the same as ours. (I sometimes think I'm too fussy)
Del
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Ahoy Radius... been awhile for me as well I have been working like I do and just now are getting some time to catch up with bows and my kids. I owe a couple of people on here yet and are almost embarassed to say so but if my circumstances were different it would have been done already. Anyway would like to see some of that haunted yew u got lol....
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Radius,
So you got to pillage a bunch of Yew from the Graveyard :D Bravo!
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i actually don't think i'll take it back with me...i'll leave it here to season in the inlaws' shed, and make a bow every time i come back. Also, if any of you english guys (or Parnell!)want a piece, PM me and i'll hook you up...provided you go to York to pick it up. Several of these staves are 'experimental' at best: shortish branches which are fairly knotty and which i hope to make into asymmetrical bows. One of them is destined for me mudderinlaw, which has to be very light...but fodderinlaw was very happy with his recurve and i think he's joined an archery club already. Mudderinlaw actually came to the graveyard with me and helped me carry the short ladder, tools, staves, etc. in the wicked snowstorm the UK suffered this winter.
I've got a shitload of yew back home, if you remember...but i better talk to Mar to see how it's been working...either way, since i love working with yew, and love spending time in the bush, i'll be going back out to the forests of coastal BC to collect some more. Meantime i'll get some elm and make holmies and mollegabets...try some carving like half eye...
haunted yew!
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Yes. Check the graves near the trees you harvested the limbs from. Bodies tend to migrate, so that is not a sure way, though, when you need and exorcist. You may find yourself speaking in some weird country dialect, dressing strangly, eating things you always hated before, and go into some long dead trade like a wheelwright or cordwainer or gong farmer. But if you get possessed by a medieval bowyer, count yourself lucky.
Dane
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check em out
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The one in that last pic has a lovely thin sapwood layer, much nicer than the last log I cut.
Interesting to see what you've cut, I generally go for stuff with few pins in it, but you get more character with a few knots.
I shall be less fussy with my next lot.
They look a pretty decent size except for the really thin one.
If you can't get 'em to Canada, I'll look after them for you ::) , I promise I'd give 'em a good home.
Del
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Del, if you want, i'll hook you up with the inlaws, and you can definitely have a few of these. The short thick one i'd like to keep for next time i am here. Other than that...fair game.
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Del, if you want, i'll hook you up with the inlaws, and you can definitely have a few of these. The short thick one i'd like to keep for next time i am here. Other than that...fair game.
That would be great if you are sure you can't get 'em back. I'm hoping to get some Yew from Hampshire in a week or so and I wouldn't want to deprive anyone who maybe can't find their own or is more deserving.
I'me working on a special secret bow (shhhhhhh) which you might be interesting in as a swap for a log!
Del
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Sweet Jesus, Scott. A coupe of those are just twigs! Do you think those wee ones will actually make a bow? The one log looks pretty good, but that other biggish one has more knots than a homeless woman's hair! Yah got yer work cut out fer yerself der, bay.
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Radius
I live in the UK and there are lots of Yew trees growing in my area, many of the small branches I have cut seem to have a large proportion of sapwood but yours seem to be just right.
Peter (UK)
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One thing I found with yew branch bows is that you must take notice of the position of the centre of growth and base the bow around that either making the thinner or thicker side the back/belly of the bow. Reaction wood! If the bow is made at an angle to the pith/centre of growth it will warp sideways as it dries and as wood is removed. Done right it will pull into relfex or deflex in line with the bow.
Those bows will have a nice historical/cultural heritage if they do follow you to Canada in the future!
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Sweet Jesus, Scott. A coupe of those are just twigs! Do you think those wee ones will actually make a bow? The one log looks pretty good, but that other biggish one has more knots than a homeless woman's hair! Yah got yer work cut out fer yerself der, bay.
well, adam, i'm hoping the little ones make decent kids' bows (if i ever get to making em!). As for the knots...i like working with knotty yew, it's fun!
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King Henry VIII would be proud of you.
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thanks Oldbow...Del the Cat (King Del the Cat I) has made me an "honourary English yeoman"...does that count?
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Bloody Canadians coming over here and stealing all our yew ::)
Maybe we should go over there and steal some Moose
Del
Let's get there osage instead >:D SS
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Hmm...now i just gotta ship them home to Canada...
If they won't let you shit to Canada, I'm sure Ireland would be no problem at all ;) ;)
Seriously though, you may have to remove all the bark to show there's no possible bug infestation to enter Canada. Other than that, you should be ok.
My new wife took me to a nearby graveyard where i saw many overgrown yew trees.
I had to laugh at that... :D was that in your qualified opinion as a tree surgeon/arborist...? ;D;D :-X
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Way to go, Squirrelslayer! Reviving a THREE YEAR OLD topic!
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Way to go, Squirrelslayer! Reviving a THREE YEAR OLD topic!
Sarcasam? SS
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No, I think he is suggesting your reading comprehension needs work. Radius is long gone. Why did you reply to a topic from 2010?
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Yeah I knew it was an old thread. I was looking at the threads on bows made from yew branches as I have also found a few yew Trees and was doing some research. SS
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Yeah I knew it was an old thread. I was looking at the threads on bows made from yew branches as I have also found a few yew Trees and was doing some research. SS
Doesn't answer the question of "why did you reply to a three year old thread"...?
I'll hold my hand up for being too dumb to look at the dates of the entire thread and just saw the "last post today" thing, which drew my attention in the first place and led to me commenting.
What's your excuse?
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Sheesh. The guy replied to an old thread. Lets burn him at the stake shall we? Why should he have to justify himself to somebody who made the exact same mistake? Isn't the bandwagon a little rickety by now?
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Nothing wrong with a little thread necromancy here and there. It's not exactly epidemic on this particular board.
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I don't think it's that big of a deal hatcha
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I don't think it's that big of a deal hatcha
Neither do I, to be perfectly honest.
What gets me is he was asked a question (why did you post on a three year old thread?) by someone and, while taking the time to post a comment, never actually bothered his hole to answer it.
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I can't believe I'm bothering to get involved in such a non-issue, but it's bugging me. He was doing some research on yew and decided to comment (to a member who still posts here (Del) I might add) to a post with a joke. And now he's being got at by somebody who couldn't be bothered to check the thread date either, and replied to a member who doesnt post anymore, demanding he justify himself. Nice.
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I can't believe I'm bothering to get involved in such a non-issue, but it's bugging me. He was doing some research on yew and decided to comment (to a member who still posts here (Del) I might add) to a post with a joke. And now he's being got at by somebody who couldn't be bothered to check the thread date either, and replied to a member who doesnt post anymore, demanding he justify himself. Nice.
Thanks. I thought so too.
Problem solved anyway.
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I can't believe I'm bothering to get involved in such a non-issue, but it's bugging me. He was doing some research on yew and decided to comment (to a member who still posts here (Del) I might add) to a post with a joke. And now he's being got at by somebody who couldn't be bothered to check the thread date either, and replied to a member who doesnt post anymore, demanding he justify himself. Nice.
Thanks, SS
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Sometimes it is fun to go through old threads, and if they are good enough, to necro them so others can read them too.