Author Topic: Question on Yew stave. (Read 16904 times)

Pappy · « **on:** November 09, 2009, 07:05:19 am »

Jesse gave me a stave ,well what was left from a stave someone gave him at the classic,I have never worked with yew and was wondering how to proceed.Here are some pictures of the stave.It is 68 long ,I want some advice on what would be a good lay out for it.

Pappy

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Del the cat · « **Reply #1 on:** November 09, 2009, 08:04:03 am »

Give it to me

.
It's a tad short for an English longbow.
So the big question is what sort of bow do you want???
Shallow D section a tad wider than a longbow, slightly reflexed tips, no arrow shelf, sort of race tuned squashed English longbow would be cute
I'd work the sap wood down to about 3/16" following a ring, but don't worry too much and then see what the wood wants to do.
Del
(it's probably just poor colour rendition but it doesn't look much like Yew? That sort of hairy surface on the sap wood/underbark looks odd, maybe it's due to the tool used?)

Ryano · « **Reply #2 on:** November 09, 2009, 08:31:54 am »

Pappy, I'd go 66" ntn 1 1/4" wide to mid limb then taper to 1/2" at the tips. Oval cross section with a ridged handle if possible. Then reflex it on one of your forms. Yew is easy to work compared to most hard woods....Just remember the limbs will look thick compared to a osage or hickory bows of the same draw weight, so don't get to carried away in the rough out process.

Keenan · « **Reply #3 on:** November 09, 2009, 09:44:10 am »

Pappy, Ryano's dimensions sound good for what you have. I like them a little wider then that at the fades but you are limited by what you have so you'll have to go for a little deeper thickness. With your years of working Osage it could be easy to be to aggressive on the wood removal, so rough out bigger then you would think necessary. Yew is much softer you'll be able to work it down to floor tiller very fast in comaprison to Osage.
Also don't forget to remove some of that sapwood. Shoot for 3/16"sapwood and don't panic about ring violations it will handle some as long as not to drastic. Sometimes a little stain will help you see the sapwood rings

Go slow on exercising the limbs , to aggressive can be fatal.

Nice stave, can't wait to see what you can do with yew.

Blacktail · « **Reply #4 on:** November 09, 2009, 09:47:07 am »

i think what ryan said would be great...i am really happy for pappy...GO PAPPY GO...i wait to see what you get..john

ricktrojanowski · « **Reply #5 on:** November 09, 2009, 09:02:24 pm »

Pappy
I'm working on one right now as well. I'm going by the dimensions in TBB 1. It had a really thick sapwood layer (up to 3/4") in some places. I'm removing it to about 3/16" It has REALLY tight rings but I'm managing to follow one, I'm just going really slow with a chair scraper and knife. I'm still planning on backing it with rawhide. I'm looking foward to see what you make.

radius · « **Reply #6 on:** November 09, 2009, 09:43:21 pm »

after about 10 of em, i started just making rough drawings on the back of the stave with a sharpie and then attacking it full force with a #50 rasp...have a good time!

Keenan · « **Reply #7 on:** November 09, 2009, 09:48:17 pm »

Rick if you are going to back it with rawhide anyway I would worry to much about following a ring. As I said yew will tolerate some minor violation anyway. If doing a self bow then yes get as close as you can.

kayakfisher · « **Reply #8 on:** November 09, 2009, 10:03:47 pm »

A lot of good advice Pappy ,what are yew going to do ? [Sorry couldnt resist]

I'm sure after seeing your bows in the Primitive Archer and the forum yew will do all right. It will be fun for you working a different type of wood. All mine were made out of Osage then I tried a different type of wood using the same dimensions and it came out a twenty pound bow.
Dennis

George Tsoukalas · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2009, 10:31:05 pm »

I only made a couple of yew bows so take what I say with a grain of salt. I wouldn't touch the sapwood. It doesn;t appear to need thinning. I like Ryan's dimensions. I'd go for the flatbow design with a slightly rounded belly. Horn nocks and a rawhide back would look good. Jawge

adb · « **Reply #10 on:** November 09, 2009, 11:06:46 pm »

Looks to me like when you remove the bark and cambium, that the sapwood will only be 1/4", and that's fine in my books. Nothing wrong with making a rounded belly ELB style bendy handle bow with that length. I've made rawhide backed yew ELBs with horn nocks as short as 58".

Pappy · « **Reply #11 on:** November 10, 2009, 05:02:12 am »

Thanks guys,I was thinking about what Jawgs and adb said on the sap wood and think I will go with Ryan's lay out ,just maybe a little wider. It is a very clean piece of wood so I will see
what I can come up with.Never use Yew but have heard a lot of good things about it,can't wait to give it a try.

Pappy

Marc St Louis · « **Reply #12 on:** November 10, 2009, 09:15:01 am »

If you can get more than 1 1/4" wide at the fades then by all means do it. I would also be inclined to leave the sapwood intact but that may depend on how much draw weight you want out of the bow

Pappy · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2009, 05:27:47 am »

Thanks Marc,I want low 50's @26 inch draw.

Pappy

shamus · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2009, 07:53:09 am »

That's a decent piece of yew.

I'd leave the sapwood as-is. It's not too thick. I''ve used this design on yew (But it was 1.25" at the flares instead of 1.5") and it works well: http://analogperiphery.blogspot.com/2008/05/osage-flat-bow-dimensions.html

I'm one for a gradual width taper starting right at the flare-outs and tapering in straight lines to the nocks. With the gradual width taper dialed in, the bow is half-tillered before you start. It makes a good bow and it almost tillers itself.

Primitive Archer