Chasing a YEW ring.

[Japbow]

      It's definitely yew.

      The heartwood in this stave is light in color
      and density. Also, I cut the stave with a
      coarse saw giving it a porous texture on the
      end that makes it appear lighter than it
      actually is.

      It's Japanese Yew, (taxus cuspidata) or
      perhaps some kind of yew hybrid. Of the yew
      I've cut in Japan, it varies a lot in heartwood
      color and density. I have similar sized staves
      that have a BIG difference in weight. I chose
      this stave I'm working on now because it has
      zero twist and aside from one knot at one end
      is completely clear. I definitely will be heat-
      treating the belly as Carson suggested to
      improve performance. One unfortunate
      consistency I've found about Japanese Yew
      is that the sapwood is quite thick, a half inch
      or more. This is only my second yew bow, the
      first one was a short 49 inch "d" profile bow
      which was made from a branch because it had
      a good sapwood thickness. If I'm gonna make
      more yew bows I guess ring-chasing is gonna
      be unavoidable...

      Pekane: Japanese woodworking is a strange
      world. Especially the woodworking tools. Lots
      of old traditional styles and everything is
      super EXPENSIVE! The cheapest draw knife
      I found was about $200. The scraper is weird
      but it was cheap and it works pretty well,
      although it's a little noisy. I think the neighbors
      suspect I may be killing cats!

      Japbow.

[BillBow]

Wow you look to be doing fine, I will be watching your progress as I have also just got my first Yew stave. How long ago was your stave cut.

[Del the cat]

Looks like you are doing a great job, but making a lot of work for yourself by not getting the bow roughed out or to floor tiller first. That way you have a lot less of it to do. You also have a clearer view of the sapwood thickness at each edge as the stave isn't so wide.
Del

[Japbow]

      Thanks! So far, so good it seems, but when
      it comes to YEW, Del the Cat speaks (writes)
      and I listen   So, before I continue, I guess
      I should get the stave closer to bow dimensions.
      I'm planning on a flatbow style of equal parts
      sapwood to heartwood with a 4 in handle and
      2 in. fades...of course I'm heavily inspired
      by Gordon's famous Yew build-along, but...
      Hahaha! I can only dream of such greatness
      at this point! At least I have lots of yew here
      in Japan to practice my skills on.

      (I also have mulberry, black locust, persimmon,
      cherry, and several other local woods that I've
      been experimenting on.)

      BillBow: The stave was cut and split over a year
                   ago.

      Thanks again for your interest!
      Japbow.