Yew stave advice needed please

[Lucasade]

I posted pictures of this stave in the warbow section a while ago:



I was given some advice about seasoning and choosing where the bow will come from then. The stave has now decided that the top will be the bow side by starting to check at the ends on the lower half. So I got the drawknife out and reduced it:



I haven't got a shave horse so the ends are still very thick. That will be worked on!

Obviously this is going to make a character bow so I'm going to have to put it away until my skill level gets vaguely near to my ambition level. However, I'm thinking that the large knots in the stave will probably affect what design I will need to use, and wondered whether anybody can advise me please? The stave is 80" long and about 4" diameter. I'm not really worried about draw weight in this case but the tree the branch came from is far too lovely to waste this stave so whatever bow type maximises my chances I will go for.

Pictures of the knots from both sides:





Thank you!

[Del the cat]

You want those knots near the grip if possible where they can be incorporated into the handle/grip or near the end where they will hopefully get chopped out. Keep full width of the stave and they you'll be able to go pretty thin and maybe the knots will disappear as you chop away the belly.
Del

[Lucasade]

By full width are you saying a flatbow design with the back decrowned some? I'm struggling to visualise what happens to the sapwood at the sides.

[wizardgoat]

No dont decrown. He means just keep as much width as possible, and those branches will maybe disappear.

[Lucasade]

So reduce it to the maximum width of the heartwood and proceed from there?

[wizardgoat]

I have a smaller diam yew bow I have roughed out, and the sides of the is all sapwood

[Lucasade]

Okay that makes sense I think. What shape should I aim for - clearly not a D profile from what's been said?

[wizardgoat]

Since it may not be a good stave for a long bow, your other option would be a stiff handled bow, and try to get those knots in the handle section. 80" is real long for a flatbow, so depending on draw length you would only need about 64-68" overall.
When you draw your profile out, do it so when you eye down what would be the back of the bow, the tips and the centre all intersect. It's easier (usually) to heat correct deflex reflex in limbs than it is to correct side to side I find. You can make your handle about 1 1/4 wide,
2-3" fades, and start with 1.5" wide limbs that taper to 1/2"(for now)
When was it cut?
With my yew I wait 3 months to split, another 5 or 6 before I rough out, than another few months before I even think about bending it

[Lucasade]

It was cut late May/early June. I'll rough it out probably next year, but I'm one of those people who likes to have an idea what the end point looks like before I start!

I'll get the tape measure out later and see whether the knots need to be at the tips or the handle. I'm 6' and have comparatively long arms so I'll need to keep as much length as I can (though obviously not as much as a longbow needed).

Thank you very much for all the advice.

[Del the cat]

Here's a post of Yew stick bow, it shows how the sapwood can appear on the belly too...
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/yew-stick-bow.html
The next few posts show how I did some experimental stuff with it too to straighten it out a tad.
Del

[Lucasade]

Fantastic - just what I needed to see. Thank you.

A lesson learnt on this stave is thin down the middle bit last in case you need to make a handle I think!

[Lucasade]

I've just measured up and I can either have a 40" bow with the knots in the handle or a 68" bow with the knots between 25-30" along one limb. Think I'll go for the longer option! The string looks like it will pass towards one side of the handle but hopefully I can jiggle things around a bit when I'm actually cutting it.

If this works I'm thinking I might try a Holmegaard with one of my bits of elm too...