Weird Yew

[Del the cat]

  Del, With yew it almost always best to cut it up with a saw instead of splitting. It will often do what happened to you.

Ta for the tip. Prob is I only have one of those little hoby size bandsaws (rescued from the council rubish tip!) and my workshop is just a single garage...not like you guys in the states with your huge workshops and acres of space.
I'm planning to go back sometime to the tree from which I cut my longbow about 30years ago and have it's sister stave (they were growing side by side) It should be thick enough by now.
I'm sure I can still find that tree
Del

[shamus]

It's a very coarse (less dense)  piece of yew. Might want to consider making it wider than the usual design for a yew bow.

[Bushbow]

Del
I made many bows with a 3 wheel hobby bandsaw (now I have a 12" Jet). If you use a new blade and take the wood off in facets , it is up to the task. I recall I could cut 2" thick osage with a new blade.

[Del the cat]

Del
I made many bows with a 3 wheel hobby bandsaw (now I have a 12" Jet). If you use a new blade and take the wood off in facets , it is up to the task. I recall I could cut 2" thick osage with a new blade.

Cheers, I'll try it on an off cut of the Yew, it was pretty wet, it'll be interesting to see how it copes with it....

[radius]

you done anything with these yet?

[markinengland]

Del,

A friend of mine made a yew bow a few years ago. He chased a ring from one end with about 1/4 inc of sapwood on top of the heartwood to the other end. Halfway through the opposite limb the same ring turned to heartwood. Wood turns into heartwood, having once been sapwoodand doesn't always do it as neatly as we would like!

My friends bow worked just fine.

I made a yew bow that was almost all sapwood and it worked well. Maybe not quite a s good as the "proper" sapwood/heartwood combination but yew sapwood is still good bow wood.

Keep your eyes out for good Hawthorn and Dogwood staves. Easier to find than yew in the UK and make good bows.

Mark

[Del the cat]

Del,

A friend of mine made a yew bow a few years ago. He chased a ring from one end with about 1/4 inc of sapwood on top of the heartwood to the other end. Halfway through the opposite limb the same ring turned to heartwood. Wood turns into heartwood, having once been sapwoodand doesn't always do it as neatly as we would like!

My friends bow worked just fine.

I made a yew bow that was almost all sapwood and it worked well. Maybe not quite a s good as the "proper" sapwood/heartwood combination but yew sapwood is still good bow wood.

Keep your eyes out for good Hawthorn and Dogwood staves. Easier to find than yew in the UK and make good bows.

Mark
Cheers,
Ta for the info.
I'm hoping to get back down south shortly on a Yew hunting trip.... I never got over to Butser last year to see you guys... it was a bad year Brother, Mother in Law, cousin and Aunt all died within about 6months.
Lets hope the sun returns soon.
I'm pining for the South Downs
Del

[radius]

Del, don't forget there's some up here for you in York.

[Del the cat]

Del, don't forget there's some up here for you in York.

Yeah, cheers, not sure if I'll get up there for a while...but I'm sure you'll use it if I don't collect. My old home ground on the South Downs is considerably closer and I'm hoping to cut the sister stave to the one I made my best bow from. (Again waiting for a window in the weather, it'll be a good excuse to get in the woods with my Bro & Sis, pub lunch, see Mum & Dad and all's well with world)
I do have a relative up in Lincoln, so I might get up that way in the summer, assuming we actually get one.
BTW That glue should be winging it's way to you.
Del

[radius]

thanks, Del.  If you don't get up for it, i'll use it next time i'm around. 

Today i got a hatchet and chopped the shit out of that cracked, flat-bellied one i posted earlier.  It is no longer a flatbow, but an elb, and although i haven't worked all the way down through the cracks, it all looks good.  Probably won't get it to full tiller before Morocco, but it can cure in its present state until i get back to it.  On the other hand, if you're interested, maybe you could pick up a "mostly-worked" stave and finish 'er off, keep it, give it away, just as long as you post it so i can see the pictures.   

Warn ya though:  only Sigfried and Roy's cats could draw this one!