yew: good for short bows or long bows only?

[radius]

Hey,

I'm just guessing, but it seems people usually make long bows (upwards of 72" and more) from yew...

is it a poor wood for short bows?

radius

[Kegan]

If it is, don't let the West Coast Natives or Manny let you hear that

[nickf]

radius, how could an excelent bowwood be great for longbows and bad for shortbows?

a lesson in bowyer's science; shorter bows need a shorter drawlength or wider limbs.

we usually make longbows from nostalgic reasons; pope and young, howard hill, robin hood, the old english warbowarchers, all used yew longbows. Yew is a precious wood, and one of the few woods wich give great performing selfbows in these narrow, round bellied bows.

If you have acces to yew, wouldn't it be a waste not to use every single bit of it? it's rare stuff... that's just another reason.

why we don't see that many shortbows? do we actually see many shortbows overall? most bows I see are between 60 and 72" tall. be it hickory, ash, osage or red oak.

the westcoast indians however preferred shortbow for several reasons, and they used yew whenever they could get it... Both yew and juniper are great bowwoods, and they give great sinewbacked shorties like the westcoasters liked to make.

Ncik

[radius]

the reason i ask is that i made a bunch of laminations and haven't used them yet, except a couple as belly lams on an r/d bow.


good point about the wider limbs though...flat-bellied or ellipse-shaped limbs, i guess...

worth a try!

[adb]

Not necessarily... I just finished a short yew ELB. 58" NTN, 48#@27", 1 1/4" limbs at grip, tapering to 3/8" horn nocks, round belly. Yew is amazing stuff... it just wants to bend. This bow was an experiment in pushing all the limits.

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[radius]

good one, adam...looks like it's stiff-handled, too...

where'd ya get the stave?

[adb]

Medicine Bow Wood. Do a google search.

[radius]

i know the one...i can't get past their prices!

yesterday i found a snakey stave...and i think i'm gonna get some osage staves from nebraska sent up....

i just have all these lams i'm not using...i'm more into carving from staves right now...

you want 'em?

[ravenbeak]

here's two matched short yew bows.   both only 50 inches.

the heartwood bow is named thumper,  50lbs at 26 inches. with a stiff handle
the sapwood bow is named tango,  47 lbs at 26 inches.  bends through the handle

both are unbacked.

jamie

you should walk more radius,  there is tons of yew in our area,  and quite alot of blowdowns.

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[radius]

hey!

are you the guy that had some staves last year we almost traded?   

cool man, looks like you've done some nice work...as for walking more, you got that right...can you pm me a decent park to check out?  thanks

[Gordon]

Yew is suited well for both short and long designs. Keep the limbs wide for short bows, narrow for long bows.

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Yew impressed me more than any other bowwood, I only have mediocre quality Yew however the final product is amazing.

This 58" bow is what I've being shooting and hunting in the last few weeks, I finished it and though it was 78# @ 26" , but it either felt heavyer or I was a little week lately,...well yesterday I put it on the scale ...83# @ 26"    gotta love the wood 

[radius]

thanks Manny,

did you put any overlays on the tips to protect the sapwood?

[Kegan]

we usually make longbows from nostalgic reasons; pope and young, howard hill, robin hood, the old english warbowarchers, all used yew longbows. Yew is a precious wood, and one of the few woods wich give great performing selfbows in these narrow, round bellied bows.

why we don't see that many shortbows? do we actually see many shortbows overall? most bows I see are between 60 and 72" tall. be it hickory, ash, osage or red oak.

Actually, I don't like shortbows because I stink at shooting them! A longer bow, even jsut a couple inches more, is much more forgiving than a shorter bow to shoot. I recently piked a couple bows to reach weight and not only were they harder to draw (even though I shoot the weight they came in at all the time), but they were much harder to shoot accrurately. I'm simply nowhere near good enough to shoot a shortbow as accurately yet. Anything under 66-68" and I'm in trouble .

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Yes Radius, hardwood overlays, I wouldn't really feel safe without them.

....No kidding Kegan, being hunting only short bows for the past 8 months and more, and made more bad shots and lost more anymals than my all previous bowhunting carrier, I'm just about to give up and go back to longbows, ...it's cheesey to blame equipment but I don't belive in coincidences either