Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: jeffp51 on February 22, 2016, 12:18:05 am
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I have this nice straight piece of yew. There is a 50-50 chance it will become my trade bow for the year. since it is my first go at yew, I thought I would ask the experts what they would do with it. (Wizardgoat and Del, I am talking to you, but anyone else too, please) It is 67" long and 2.5-3" wide. The sapwood is just under 1/2" thick at one end and just over 3/4" thick at the other. No knots other than a few possible pins. The only issue with it is the ring count is only about 15/inch, so it isn't that dense.
I have been going back and forth between trying for an English long bow (except for my lack of horn knocks or the ability to make them) and trying to copy one of Ryan's recurved bendy handled beauties (even though I will fall short there too, I am sure).
How wide should I go with the low ring count?
Bonus points if you are the right age to get the reference in the title.
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(http://i.imgur.com/afYSNnx.gif)
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Jeff, that stave will make an kind of bow you want. That's some thick sapwood, I'd reduce it to 3/16-1/4" thick. I've made some low RPI yew bows, and I really didn't find anything inferior about the wood. If you figure out what style you want to go with, draw length and weight I could help ya more
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And ya, we loved goonies growing up!
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Sorry, I am a little older than the goonies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_iGaQglnKg
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Osage outlaw beat me to it!
Yew and the goonies go together, it is a PNW thang ;)
if this is your first yew, I would suggest going little more moderate than a deep belly elb or deep belly bendy handle wizgoat recurve special. go for a flip tip american longbow stiff handle bezt of all worlds mild reflex through a pyramid taper CMB special :P
Seriously though, when working a new wood, use the KISS method, keep it simple stupid. ;D
Nice stick, dont worry about thick sapwood, but at the same time dont hesitate to reduce it, so long as you are feathering things out and not hacking it up. not that you would jeff. you make nice bows, and so do yew, and so do you, and so do yew... :P
Sorry guys, long night after an epic yew haul in the GFNP. Love bows and yew all! good night !!!
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Sorry, I am a little older than the goonies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_iGaQglnKg
I'd watch the Goonies 10 times in a row before I watched that show :P
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Yeah, me too. The 70's were not a good time.
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Carson, I did some yew cutting this weekend too, didn't think there was any left in Oregon though😉
Also, I've heat treated low RPI yew with good result.
Carson is right though, keep it full length, 1 1/2- 1 5/8 at the fades, and yew loves dry or wet heat.
As far as the sapwood, 1/2" ain't so bad, but 3/4", you'll run out of heartwood on that tip.
Not the end of the world, just in my eyes looks bad
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Hey the 70's were great, atleast what i can remember ???
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I only experienced 21 days of the 70's so I wouldn't know ;D
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That will make a fine ELB (but a tad short), or almost anything you want!
You will probably need to reduce the sapwood thickness on one limb at least.
A nice compromise is something between an English and an American longbow, a slightly wider (1/5 -1.75" ?) flatter more oval cross section can be more forgiving and avoid the dreaded sideways bend that can happen on an ELB if you aren't careful, it also allows you to go a tad shorter as you don't have a 6' stave.
Horn nock overlays rather than full horn nocks are fine.
Don't worry about low ring count, it just makes it easy to get the sapwood looking good when you reduce it. I've never had any trouble with low ring count, and the odd bow that was a bit rubbery, soon tightened up with some heat treating on the belly.
Del
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Jeff I've got some water buffalo tips for elb's. If you need a couple you're more than welcome to some just shoot me a pm and I'll get em out ASAP
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Carson, I did some yew cutting this weekend too, didn't think there was any left in Oregon though😉
There isnt! ;D Had to go out of state. :)
Jeff, Hope you didn't take offense to that KISS statement. Not calling you stupid. :) An old mentor/friend of mine had to preach that one to me a bit. Helps me out when I use it.
I had not heard of that other "Hey you Guys" reference. That electric company show sure looks funky!
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Not offended at all. It makes perfect sense. My problem is I really like bows with hooks on them, so I will probably think about how to recurve this one. Del is right, it is a little short for a true ELB, but playing it safe still means keeping it as long as possible.
As for reducing the back, I have read multiple times that violating the growth rings is not a cardinal sin with yew, but I would think I still need to be careful with it. Advice?
The Electric Company looks cheesy now, but it had Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman, Spiderman, and a bunch of other (then) famous comedians running it. It's what we graduated to when we aged out of Sesame Street--back when there were only 4 TV channels to choose from, and the Six Million Dollar Man didn't come on for another few hours. . .
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Jeff - if it were me chasing a ring on that to reduce sapwood thickness I'd still be aiming for one ring. Aim for perfection then if you deviate a bit you'll be ok. It also bends like butter for your recurves :)
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Jeff - if it were me chasing a ring on that to reduce sapwood thickness I'd still be aiming for one ring. Aim for perfection then if you deviate a bit you'll be ok. It also bends like butter for your recurves :)
Hi everybody!It's Uncle Mike! (to be read in doctor Nick voice from the Simpsons)
Del :laugh:
Good to see you
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I only experienced 21 days of the 70's so I wouldn't know ;D
Man, you are young, I was there for 206.
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I was there for all of them, man. At least that's what I've been told :o :o :o
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Jeff - if it were me chasing a ring on that to reduce sapwood thickness I'd still be aiming for one ring. Aim for perfection then if you deviate a bit you'll be ok. It also bends like butter for your recurves :)
When thinning the sapwood, should I aim for an even thickness top to bottom, or try to stay in one ring as much as possible, which would probably result in a little unevenness in sapwood thickness?
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You can can only have one or the other.
If it were me I'd aim for one thickness.
I've always backed or snake skinned those bow, I don't like the look of violated sapwood, even if I don't personally believe it flaws the bows strength (for moderate weight bows)
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Do you all prefer a rasp or a scraper or a drawknife for thinning sapwood? My thinking is rasp first until I am close, and then scraper for the fine work. . .
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Chasing a yew sapwood ring is actually relatively easy. Because your stave has pretty wide rings, AND very few knots, it'll be a perfect candidate to chase a ring on. Even doable for a beginner.
I suggest you narrow the stave somewhat first. It makes no sense to chase a ring over the full width of 3", while you may end up with only 1/2" wide tip. It would be best to rough out the bow to the correct width, but to leave it 1/2" wider. Then thin the sapwood, and only then come down to the final width profile.
When chasing a ring in yew sapwood, I would first count rings and check the thickness over the entire length of the stave. You can either have a continuous sapwood thickness, and the cost of cutting through some rings. Or you can follow one ring faithfully, resulting in slightly uneven sapwood thickness. Myself, I usually go for the latter. If that means the sapwood will be very uneven, you could "step through" a few rings in the stiff handle. That may mean that one limb consists of six rings of sapwood, and the other limb has nine rings.
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I actually use all three tools: drawknife, rasp and scraper. In that order. I mark the ring that I'm going after first. I then go down and approach that ring with the drawknife but leave about two rings on top. The rasp gets it all flat, and gets me close to the ring I'm going after. I then switch to the scraper to remove the final layer of wood.
I usually work small stretches of about 6-8" length at once. It allows me to keep an eye on the depth I need to go.