BILLETS OR STAVES (yew)

[Blacktail]

i was watching the dvd billets to bows.and if i remember right Glenn made a statement that billets are better than solid staves...so,it kind of raised a ? mark in my head....i am not at all trying to discredit Glenn...but,i am wondering if there is an advantage or reason that billets make better bows in the world of yew wood...john

[bowkee]

I would think billets would work better is the fact that there would be less bendy in the billets.

[Blacktail]

so,you are thinking that billets are more stiff than a solid stave...is this correct...john

[Pat B]

With billets you can make adjustments at glue up by removing some twist and adding backset.

[Blacktail]

o.k. pat..that makes sence..i seen glenn do that in the movie..

[Gordon]

I've not noticed any performance difference between bows made from billets and staves. Billets do, however, let you utilize shorter lengths of wood.

[Eric Krewson]

Side by side billets have the advantage of being well matched as far as density and ring structure. The further up the tree you go the more likely you will have more knots and anomalies. Never used yew(have some but haven't used it) but I would much rather splice up a nice pair of matched osage billets than use a stave.

[bowkee]

yea like pat , Gordon and Eric say

[Marc St Louis]

I prefer using billets than staves and in fact will sometimes cut staves up into billets.

[Justin Snyder]

Billets are really cool for shipping as they save $$$. They let you take out twist like Pat said and let you ad reflex or deflex in the handle really easily, and by cutting the splice on an angle you can line up the tips easier.

For bending handles you cant beat a stave.

[Blacktail]

this is really cool to learn..i all ways look at yew trees for staves...but,i am rethinking my way now..thanks john

[shamus]

I like staves for the simplicity.

That said, it's much easier to find straight 36-40" pieces of yew rather than straight 70" staves (the same goes for osage). Also, billets can be made with backset, which helps in some designs.

[Del the cat]

Hmmm, I think billets are useful if you havn't got a full length stave.
(I s'pose I should say that I'm thinking mostly of ELBs or bend through the handle primitives in the following rather than the bows with a stiff sculpted handle and an arrow shelf)
I'll fess up and say I havn't actually done the billet thing yet, it's on my to-do-list and I have 2 chunks of Laburnum which might just about splice up into a bow.
I just don't get why on earth you want to mess about splicing unless there was a darned good reason ...eg, no staves, shipping or whatever.
Self evidently the stave is 'more primitive' than a spliced up billet bow.
To me the whole point is teasing a bow out of what you have to hand, if that means splicing fine...but is anyone really suggesting that I should take my Yew staves and chop 'em in half so that they make better bows . Someone is havin' a Steffi .*
Del
*(Cockney rhyming slang... Steffi Graf = Laff [laugh])

[artcher1]

I prefer matching billets myself. And like Marc, I even cut full length staves/logs into billets to better match the wood's property. Plus, shorter length material is much easier to maneuver on the bandsaw.............ART

[Hillbilly]

Another advantage of billets is that you can take a crooked, snaky short piece and split it into sister billets, and when you butt them together the crooks are exactly opposite on each end and cancel each other out, giving you a crookedy bow that lines up at the handle.