Yew Warbows

[mikekeswick]

remove most of the knot and DO NOT touch the tips 

[Del the cat]

Yeah, that's a bit more concise than my post
+1
Del

[adb]

Agreed. DO NOT remove any more wood from the tips! You gotta bite the bullet and reduce the limb thickness on the belly side under the knot. If it holds, it holds.

Also, I believe it to be bad practice to pike most bows, especially if you made the mistake of whip tillering it. ALWAYS start out with a goal in mind. If you come in under weight because of inexperience, and you have extra limb length, then maybe pike it. However, intentionally starting out making a bow longer than optimal design (with intentions to pike it) is also poor practice. When it comes to warbows, and heavy warbows, you want as much limb length as is reasonable. The bow will likely take less set and will probably last much longer. Piking away mistakes doesn't solve the initial problem.

And Del... yes, you're right... if a customer wants to draw his bow to 32", you have to tiller it to 32", and start out with that end result in mind from the beginning. The important thing is how the tiller looks at full draw, not 4" less. If he wants a certain weight and tiller at 28", and another at 32", he needs two different bows IMHO. That is definitely what I would advise. I think your guy is looking to work up to a longer draw, and wants two bows in one. Not something I'd do.

[Del the cat]

And Del... yes, you're right... if a customer wants to draw his bow to 32", you have to tiller it to 32", and start out with that end result in mind from the beginning. The important thing is how the tiller looks at full draw, not 3" less. If he wants a certain weight and tiller at 28", and another at 32", he needs two different bows IMHO. That is definitely what I would advise. I think your guy is looking to work up to a longer draw, and wants two bows in one. Not something I'd do.

Yeah, I wouldn't normally do it that way, but this is a slightly experimental bow, Oregon Yew belly English Yew back .
I'll post if it it doesn't explode
You are spot on, he's trying to build up to heavier and longer draw. It suits me to some extent as it will be about my limit for comfortable shooting these days.
Del

[AH]

did some more tillering today, it's at 25" now. I don't know what the draw weight is, but it feels underweight.
 that left tip is worrying. by the way, it might look like a slight hinge forming at the inner 1/3 of the right limb, that's because there's a spot of reflex to the right of it which then goes back down to a deflex. The right limb is not purposely whip-tillered, but appears so because of the deflex.
I also included some pics of the knot

[WillS]

I'd have to say that lump around the knot can come down quite a bit.  It looks huge and the knot itself doesn't look too bad.

[mikekeswick]

As hasalready been said you needc to reduce that knot to just a shade over the dimension the limb would be withoput a knot.
Trust me that knot isn't bad but you will ruin a good stave if you don't remove it.
That left tip is horribly hingy now. The right limb isn't bad.
If you are under-weight then thats your fault for taking too much wood off! Simple! Concentrate on getting good tiller now...without good tiller you can't see what weight it will make. This bow should not have been braced in this condition - never ever brace a bow until the tiller is as perfect as you can get it. Another thing to remember is that a long string will give the impression that the mid limb to tip area is stiffer than it actually is when it's braced.
I also agree that piking is a bad idea.

[AH]

If you are under-weight then thats your fault for taking too much wood off! Simple! Concentrate on getting good tiller now...without good tiller you can't see what weight it will make. This bow should not have been braced in this condition - never ever brace a bow until the tiller is as perfect as you can get it. Another thing to remember is that a long string will give the impression that the mid limb to tip area is stiffer than it actually is when it's braced.
I also agree that piking is a bad idea.

yeah, I figured that out after I had this bow braced.
That long string theory...perhaps that's why a lot of my bows end up elliptical-tillered.
The bow is 65 pounds at 25" right now. I thinned down the knot some and scraped the inner third of the bottom limb a bit today, the left tip doesn't look as bad but still bending pretty hard. I will post pics tommorow.
It doesn't really look like I'll make my target of 100lb at 32". Live and learn, I guess.

[Ian.]

22" is the length you can start to predict the final weight. If I had 50lb at 22" I would know within a few lb's what I would end up with, however like what has already been said you could end up with 50lb @ 22" easy given the amount of damage we have seen.

Then is a golden rule here, as soon as you see a probelm, 'stop pulling any more', bad tillers never get better with more bend.

[Carson (CMB)]

Livefortheoutdoors,  I am glad you are happy with that other yew stave.  That was beauty, and should be a bit easier to tiller.  As for this one you have here, like others have said, you need to reduce those knot areas.  They are way overcompensated for.  Keep at it, and keep posting your progress.

[AH]

Thanks, Carson.
I did a bit more work today, reduced the knot a bit, and added jatoba tip overlays. I probably will replace the overlays with horn nocks some time in the future, but as of now I have no horn and the string was making dents in the back over the temporary grooves. Now the bottom limb is a bit too stiff.  This bow is not going to make a real war bow weight, I'm guessing probably around 70-80 ish @ 32". Well, I guess just live and learn, and be more careful on my next stave. Speaking of which, I got roughed out and floor tillered today. At least I'm happy with the unstrung profile. The original stave had about 0.75" of set, and it has about a smudge over an inch right now, which is actually very good, for me. last pic is the roughed out stave.
I do not know why my computer is turning these pics sideways...bear with me

[mikekeswick]

Unless it's an optical illusion that knot is still way proud! Look to the handle side of it in the 2nd last photo - way thinner. Thickness taper (if the design calls for it) should always always be even. Instead of leaving knot thicker make them them wider....although obviously this is difficult not! The other way to deal with knots is the drill them out and plug the holes with clean wood.

[adb]

Agreed. Thin the belly under that knot. For a warbow, it's also way too stiff in the handle.

[AH]

Just a little heads up, I won't be working on this bow during the next week or so, I am currently out of town.
I have scraped the middle area and reduced the knot some more, but no pics right now.

[AH]

Alright, so I evened out that knot, now the tiller looks like a nice elliptical one to me. I think I will leave the handle area stiffer, or maybe just scrape a tiny bit more off. The bow is not actually as stiff in the center as it looks in the photo, but the camera took the picture at the wrong moment, I was still at about 28" draw. I have it at 31" now, pulling about 80 pounds.