Bit worried about sapwood ratio...

[WillS]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if any of you yew (or indeed any other) experts could help out for a quick question?

I've been reducing this beautiful yew stave down to ELB dimensions, and was meticulously chasing a ring along the bottom limb.  I know that with yew it's not at all vital to have a single chased ring, but it looks swanky and I figured it was good practice.  Anyway, as I was scraping down the limb, I suddenly realised that I was getting VERY close to having no sapwood at all on one side.

The stave was twisted to begin with, and I was following a tricky fork as well somewhere near this area which might explain why the single ring ends up being two different thicknesses each side.  The really thin sapwood is about 2/16" and I'm just wondering if I've made a bit of a mistake going so thin.  This is pretty much in the middle of the working limb, as well.  Ooops!

Take a look at the pics, and see what you think. 

Here's the really thin side:

And here's the exact same area on the other side.


Ruined, or saveable?

Thanks for any help!

[PaleoNinja]

You're fine.

[DarkSoul]

You'll be fine. Unbacked yew heartwood bows have been made in the past.

[Del the cat]

Of course such a thing has never happened to me (whoops my trousers have ignited)
Just pencil 'L' for leave on the back at that point! and breath a sigh of relief that you didn't go right through.
It is of course a 'feature' not a problem
Should be fine, lots of my bows have that whole thicher sap wood one side than t'other. It's amazing how much it can change over just an inch across the back of a bow.
I think as long as you have at least one solid unbroken ring you are ok. Knots through the back are prob worse.
If you are really worried you could overlay a sliver of sapwood 2 or 3 mm thick and 4- 5inches long, done well it is barely visible, but I don't think it's needed (unless there's a knot there as well )
Del

[WillS]

Thanks guys! Worry over! I think my concern was having a thin area in a heavily stressed part of the limb, but clearly not a problem!

Was thinking of doing the overlay actually, as I am going to do that somewhere else anyway, where the sapwood does that typical English yew thing where its not sure if it wants to be sap or heart and looks ugly, so I'm laying a nice clean white piece of sap from the same tree a'la Del to make it prettier!