leaning yew branch experience?

[joachimM]

I cut a yew branch yesterday, heavily leaning. I know that conifers will tend to react to leaning by adding compression wood (whereas hardwoods will typically add tension wood).
Anyone experience with such wood? It's not your typical split stave from a log, but it has very good sapwood to heartwood ratio to just remove the bark and start shaping a bow from it.
The first section is thicker (5 cm, 2") but shorter (130 cm, 51"), the second is longer (165 cm, 65").
it is convex on the tension side, meaning that if I would use the side that was under tension as the back, the bow would be deflexed.
It feels logical to just follow how the wood was always stressed, and make a reflex-deflex design.
I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.

[Hamish]

I reckon Del is the man who'd really know. I've only used yew staves that I bought, from what I assume are orthodox staves. I have read compression wood makes a pretty good belly, especially when given a separate backing, and glued into a reflex.

I'd try any yew long enough, or straight enough to make a set of billets, or full length stave, whether its a branch, or a leaning trunk. I bet it's still going to make a decent bow.

[simk]

I made a few of those Joachim.
I always used  the lower, compression side as the back, mainly because this side usually is branchless and cleaner than the top side.
I found this wood usually super beautyful to look and work with. It seems very elastic, litarally unbreakable.
At the same time it is very heavy in mass, rubbery and sluggish. The bending portion on the final bow will be remakably thicker than it was made from regular yew-wood - as said, it acts like rubber and does refuse to take set. Heat corrections trend to creep back unless a strupid amount of heat is applied. My bows - compared to regular yew - all underperformed and came out heavy in mass, by far.
That said I would only use it for undestructablke kidz bows.
To take best advantage of the properties mentioned above, I'd suggest, making a highly stressed design with tight bending radius.
For sure a very special kind of wood, not comparable to anything else I've worked.
Below a pic of a reflexed branch that was turned into a 5-curve.
Good luck
 

[Weird dude with a bow]

Compression yew is like rubber. In this case, I would cut a wedge off the belly at the handle, steam that handle to set it back and turn the stave into a "gull wing" shape, then glue back a wedge in. If you do that, you can also recurve the tips and get a five curve bow.
That's my opinion, good luck with this stave!

[Del the cat]

I've made bows from either face of that sort of stave, just going for the cleanest back/best sapwood. Don't think I've drawn any solid conclusions.
Avoid making the bow from the side tho' !
If the bow seems rubbery as has been suggested, then heat treat it.
Even poor Yew is better than many woods...
Del