yew holmegaard--full draw pics--tru-oil finish

[radius]

My first attempt at a yew holmie failed miserably due to a mistake at the bandsaw.  This time it's all hand tools.

The stave i chose has 3 big knots in it, i mean huge.  I drew the outline a couple days ago (massively over-sized) and used a pullsaw, mallet, and chisel to cut to the line.  The dark line down the center is the pith, and i laid out the bow from that.  The outline is approx. 2" wide through the bending limb.  But since yew can handle warbow caliber draw weights at just 1.5" wide (and after getting the look from ravenbeak!), i made the outline 1.5" wide, and am planning on 60# (the stave is 62" long) which i think will be easily attainable.








That was all i had time for that day.

Yesterday after work I got out the drawknife and taught myself how to use it.  In keeping with what i think is tradition, i stepped down the sapwood along the back EXCEPT at the handle.  On each limb, i chased rings and although each limb follows a different growth ring, yet they are both pretty complete.  Damn hard to get just one, though!

Hopefully these pics turn out.  I was trying to show how the sapwood steps down from the handle and from the knots...This is going to leave me with a handle which is proud at the back and comfortable in the hand.














The heartwood ring i found for each limb is not the same ring:  they are different colours.  But i think it'll be okay.  I just about have the back established (if not tidied up!), and tonight after work i'll set a centerline and reduce the width of this thing...hopefully i can almost entirely eliminate one of the knots (a big one near the handle) and significantly reducethe others...

[radius]

don't mind the mess

 

[radius]

This is more of a "help-along" than a buildalong...cuz i need help!

Guys, you see i have 3 major knots in this stave, one just out of the handle (so it'll be in the bow); one in the first third of one of the non-bending tips; and one right in the transition area from bending limb to tip. 



In this one, you can really see how the handle will be raised in comparison to the back of the bow.  And you can see the damn knot.



This one is right in the transition area, where it gets narrower AND thicker!  oh boy...






So...how do i handle these?  Can i just rasp through the knot (to save the blade of my drawknife)?  The outer section knots won't actually bend. 

I can't wait to see how this turns out.  It's cool how the heartwood is a different colour at each limb...it looks like i scraped down quite a bit more on the one limb...but it was also thinner (at the belly) to begin with.

radius

[radius]

okay,

so last night i reduced the stave to "final" width, with my drawknife, and handled some of the knots in a pretty aggressive manner:  saw and chisel.  I looked at Pat B's warbow and saw the giant knots in that, and it gave me courage.


Also, i realized that i was still in sapwood on one limb, it's just that it was a darker colour than the rest of the sapwood.  So i chased it down some more.  I tried to get just one ring, but i think the back's been violated more times than a southern belle with too many male relatives.   





This picture shows the stave's twist.






Overall, i LOVE working with this wood!  I find that the admonition to leave extra wood at the knots is almost unnecessary, because it's impossible not to!  The grain changes direction around a knot, so you are forced to turn the knife and come from the other side.  The effect is a natural little mound of raised wood.

So, I just traded a stave for a dozen handmade arrows, painted and nocked...i think it's a good trade.

I'm looking forward to shooting this bow.

No way  i'll be able to recurve this one:  too much going on at the tips already.  But i've drawn the approximate shape of the tips on the sides now...





Slightly different from each other, due to the placement of the knots, but still similar and i think they will look cool.


more to come

[radius]

What a week!  The obsession is back in force!

Tonight after work i tackled the big knots for serious this time.  So far i've just been pecking at them...but they gotta go, so tonight i sawed them off with a pull saw, then hit the tips (all i got done, really) with the gooseneck scraper, a bowyer's best friend.  I cleaned up the tips so i'm pretty happy with them, other than their bulk. 

Here's a few pics.









Here is the other tip. 






It's starting to come together...i dunno though, these tips are gonna be pretty heavy...maybe i should go for 65 or 70# just to make up for it.

tomorrow i'll clean up the last knots and then do some work around the handle before flattening out the belly at 1/2 " thick.

[radius]

Hey guys,

I did a buttload more work on the thing today, and finally got to floor tiller stage.  Those big knots are coming off, one by one...god i need my bandsaw  back!  Even if it is just a little guy....


I took the bark off the back of the handle, thinned the sapwood opposite the fades (somewhat, more to do there), and drawknifed the stave to 1.5" wide for the bending portion of the limbs.  I also made the tips 1" longer, both for leverage and aesthetics, carved out the handle a bit, and flattened the bellies.  Here is a pic of one belly.

[radius]

Tonight i plan to take the thing down to the lines.  It's starting to bend a hair now.  I have a bunch more work to do on the very time-consuming knots that populate this stave.  I'm gonna take the handle down to where i can hold it at least, and start on the fades, get them roughed in.

Tomorrow i'm gonna make a steampipe like Pappy uses, only out of pvc.  This stave is deflexed at the handle and it has a minor twist.  I think i won't worry about the twist just yet.  But when i steam it tomorrow, i'll clamp it into some reflex...probly put 1.5" block under each end and clamp the sucker down.  That'll give it more pep.  While it's shedding moisture over the next few days, i'll try and collect some more wood, and also get started on a kid's bow i just offered to do for a friend's son.

This bow has been a real lesson in carving, that's for sure!  All these knots!  I bet a smooth stave would go MUCH faster.  God i can't believe the time i've spent just roughing it out!

I've got the bending limbs dialed down to 1.5 "...is that too wide for yew?  Am i going to get a 100#'er?

[ravenbeak]

hey scott,

that is looking great,  i look forward to seeing it in person

cheers,
Jamie

[Ohio John]

Man of man we really are birds of a feather my friend! I thought I was the only one making big messes of shavings right in the house !

[sailordad]

Man of man we really are birds of a feather my friend! I thought I was the only one making big messes of shavings right in the house !

heck i have room in the basement just for orking on my bows,even do a little knapping in there(with a fan on of course).
its nice cause that room is on the recirc side of my furnace and all the air has to go thru the hepa filter,helps keep the dust from knapping and tillering from going thru the whole house

[Michael C.]

I was able to work on stuff in my apartment but now that we bought a house my wife gets mad at me when I even let shavings fall off of my shorts in the house. She has no mercy even in 100 degree weather, so I wait until they are on a trip to work inside then clean up really well. They're off to a family reunion next week, so that means I get air condition for a few days work

[radius]

i just got back from the hardware store...i bought a 10' section of 2"x3" drain pipe (rectangular, like comes down from gutters) and an elbow.  the elbow is in the pot, i cut the section to 90" (to accomodate warbows) and the "holmegaard" is in the pipe right now...plan to clamp some deflex out of it...

[radius]

hm, i'm having troubles with the photo site....it must really love that belly shot!

[radius]

Okay, after i steamed it for about an hour (give or take) i clamped it to the table with blocks under the limbs about 20" out from center.  The blocks were 1.5" high, and as you can see i've got a little spacer under the handle area. 










After a few hours i released it from the clamp and it came to straight.  The deflex was eliminated.  Now i just have to do it again, i think, and try to get a little actual reflex in there.  I think i'll do that before i do anymore scraping to the thing.

On a related happy note, i got my bandsaw back yesterday, and a couple big sticks of rosewood that i'll be using for tip overlays and in the handles and stuff...i think the rosewood/yew combo is going to look fantastic.

[Michael C.]

Are you gonna' work that cashew and almond into the bow somehow