Another Yew Hunting Bow

[Elktracker]

Really for me either stave will be enjoyable to watch you tackle and the reason  I said the crooked one is not to see you fail but after seeing you take that crooked thing you made your trade bow out of it amazed me at what you could get out of such a ugly twisted bent up narly piece of wood, im sure Yew could do the same with this one.

Josh

[Del the cat]

That crooked one is cleaning up nicely , it says smooth wide flatish eliptical cross section limb to me.
Del

[blackhawk]

Alright twist my arm George.  Here ya go. You asked. First test piece is 61" long and down to a nice even early floor tiller. It was my smallest dia branch,not even two inches. 25 RPI




Second test subject is 72 1/2" long. I got this one just roughed down to barely bending. I might even her up a lil more. Ran out of time last night. 35 RPI.  It has a small one inch reflexed kink right at the handle.




And yes I shellacked those backs. Id rather have a couple dry pieces sooner than later to know what the wood can take and do.

[gstoneberg]

Nice Blackhawk, I like them both.  I love to see natural reflex.  Thanks.  How long are you going to be able to let those season before you have to get after them?  Not sure I could wait all that long.

Del, have you done a recurve with yew?  I can't remember and I was wondering how well the tips would hold their shape if I heat bent some nice recurves?  When I think of wide limbs I automatically think recurves, or at least flipped tips.  Too bad I have plans at the lease this weekend, I could get lots of good work done on it.  I'm game to try the crooked one first.

George

[youngbowyer]

George i'll post some pictures of the bow from that sister stave that i'm working on. Mine is a bend in the handle recurve. Going for 27" draw around 50 pounds

[blackhawk]

Good question. And yes its gonna be a tough wait when I've had severe yew envy for a year now.

Over the next couple weeks or so ill take more wood off,and after that when there more stabilized ill put em up in the rafters where its in the 80's with 50%RH and a fan blowing for a couple months,and by then they should be about ripe. Oh and the first one has almost 3" natural reflex with some small roller coaster ups n downs.

[Del the cat]

I've not done a recurve as such but I've done plenty of bending and a little tip flipping, steam or dry heat works fine. I think dry heat can also be used to temper at the same time it the tips need stiffening up.
This one's about the nearest thing I've done to a recurve, it's about 59"ntn, tips flipped with steam. (I think it was only 36#)

Here it is at 28" draw.

It was a skinny stave with V little heart wood so I had to work down from the back following a ring in the sapwood. I had to build up the handle with an offcut of Yew, I put a leather piece in between to take any movement as it may have had some flex in the handle.
Del

[gstoneberg]

Hey Tom, I am anxious to see your pics.  Thanks again for the stave.  I need a little more draw weight from mine to go after elk.  Hope I can do it.

Thanks Del, that's a nice bow.  Love the ELB look all your bows have.  Mine is likely to be more flatbow looking, but I'll try to be more oval on the limb shape.  Now I'm anxious to get going, but I have a prior engagement with the piggies this weekend.

Blackhawk, my garage attic is likely in the 150 degree range now.  The weatherman said this morning that the predicted cloud cover today would hold the temps down to 103 or so.   I can't imagine what Nate is getting over in Arizona these days...

Back to work.

George

[youngbowyer]

George make sure to heat treat. The 3 yew bows that I have made are all heat treated and I find it increases performance significantly.

[Gus]

Nice looking Wood Sir! 

Man, after reading Bow Nut's Yew thread and now yours George think I'm gonna have to track down a stave or two...

Though I might have seen a yew tree on the HCC campus... 

-Gus
PS. Just kidding... 

[gstoneberg]

Well, I was so pumped to work the yew that I blew off packing for the lease and hit the shop.  The bow is beginning to bend a bit.  It seems to have very dark sapwood.  It's almost as if the wood can't decide whether to be heartwood or sapwood?  Del caught that the first time he saw the pictures.  I could have followed a growth ring for sure.  My camera did not capture the contrast between the darker belly and lighter back.  Here are pictures.  The back:




And here's the belly and a side view:




I need to get a better floor tiller bend and then I'll straighten it.  I may cut some nocks and put a long string on it so I can reduce the handle some before bending.  That pin knot is one of only 2 or 3 on the stave, unbelievably clear.

Interestingly, while the draw knife goes through the wood like butter, my scraper does nothing.  Odd.

George

[Elktracker]

Good progress looking good

[Del the cat]

You could always go for a boomerang instead...don't have to bother with a pesky string then
Del

[youngbowyer]

That sapwood does look interesting. I guess it's the compression wood. As far as I'm concerned It doesn't affect the performance.

[Bow Nut]

I hear ya gstoneberg I was working on mine last night and like you said the draw knife when through it like butter btu the scraper just slid across it like a I was trying to scrape a piece of glass and I had just sharpened it to.  humm looks like files wrasps and sand paper on this build. 

Matt

Oh and good luck on your hunt I hope you bring home the bacon!