Sapwood or sinew?

[Taxus brevifolia]

Pacific yew, 62", American flatbow. I guess my target is 45#@ 30" (seems reasonable?)
I'd prefer to use the sapwood, since it's conveniently already on there...but I've left enough heartwood to go with a full removal of the sapwood to back with sinew.

Opinions always welcome. Thanks to everyone here for making this a very special resource

If I go with sapwood, does anyone have any advice about how thick to leave it? Nice if it'll work well untouched

 Here's 12 seconds of vid: https://youtu.be/1DR1Dka1Ym0

[Bryce]

Cut that sapwood down to 1/4” thick don’t worry about violating rings yew doesn’t care about that sand it baby smooth, burnish(optional but recommended) and continue on.

[Taxus brevifolia]

 no need to worry about violating rings on the sapwood?
Very cool. So often we hear about being sure to have a pristine ring. Yew is different then?

[Weylin]

Cut that sapwood down to 1/4” thick don’t worry about violating rings yew doesn’t care about that sand it baby smooth, burnish(optional but recommended) and continue on.

Yup

[Pat B]

Well, I'd say that's 2 expert recommendations. 

[Taxus brevifolia]

Ok. Here's what I've done so far. I've got the sapwood marked, it's next, now that I've got the belly tapering from ⅞" of heartwood at the fades to ½" at the tips.

https://youtu.be/9EACPWJ5jCI

[sieddy]

That's a lovely looking peice of Yew. It's making my British eyes tearful. 

[Taxus brevifolia]

I'm glad to have found such a perfect specimen. Well, as it turns out not absolutely perfect. There are some 2mm pin knots shown up on the inside, no sign of them on the outside.

I'm guessing an ancient American bowyer would ignore them, but I bet you English know a thing or two about dealing with pin knots in yew. They're so small, do o need to leave a bit of mass around them?

[sieddy]

I'm glad to have found such a perfect specimen. Well, as it turns out not absolutely perfect. There are some 2mm pin knots shown up on the inside, no sign of them on the outside.

I'm guessing an ancient American bowyer would ignore them, but I bet you English know a thing or two about dealing with pin knots in yew. They're so small, do o need to leave a bit of mass around them?

Some English men might (Del, Badger-help!  ) but I fear I do not. It's a cracking looking stave though, I wish you all best fortune making it into a great bow! 

[Pat B]

Where are the 2 pins located? If they are centered in the stave, meaning not on an edge, they shouldn't be a problem. If they develop a small crack(check) as they dry just add a drop of thin super glue. The thin super glue will work down into the crack.

[DC]

I made a bow that had pins that showed up on the belly but not on the back. They actually kind of mushroomed up to rotten spots in the sapwood. The sapwood had grown over them and it looked perfect. The bow broke. You should be OK because you're reducing the sapwood and should expose them. I've only ever seen it the once so don't sweat about it.

[Taxus brevifolia]

Cool thanks

[simk]

Taxus

I'm not a yew experts but would't worry about the pins.

But I'd follow a ring reducing the sapowood: It looks better and what is more important: By following a ring you make sure the sapwood has same thickness all over the bow - If you don't monitoring thickness could be an issue...

Justmy2c

[Taxus brevifolia]

I looked around, it seems a lot of these yew flatbows are made without regard to keeping the ring intact. Most often the sapwood comes off entirely, then sinew backing is added. I'll make an effort to get one ring, but I probably won't try too hard if it's difficult. The way this stave is acting, I expect it to be pretty easy