Yew for backing?

[willie]

Tried searching the archives for any examples of a composite using Yew for a backing.

Has anyone tried, or seen a thread  showing a laminate bow using a yew backing over a belly of a denser or compression capable wood?

[Marc St Louis]

I would imagine there's not too many people willing to sacrifice a pristine piece of Yew for backing strips.

I have wondered about BL for backing strips though.

[DC]

I think Del did it. Check his blog.

[penderbender]

Del did for sure. They get some thick sapwood over there. He just ripped of a backing strip and made a bow out of the rest. Cheers- Brendan

[Del the cat]

Yup, what they said.
I also made "Transatlantic" a bow from Oregon Yew billets that had bug damage in the sapwood, I took off the damaged sapwood and backed it with English Yew sapwood taken from a log that had waaay to thick sapwood. It's still going, done in 2013:-
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/steaming-sapwood-backing-strip.html
Del

[willie]

thanks for the input. I was actually hoping someone had tried yew backing over ipe or hickory or something much denser.

[Hamish]

I reckon yew would work for a backing over ipe etc, but I would still go with hickory or boo. They are stronger and better matched weight wise.   Yew doesn't have as much tension strength  as hickory(good enough to do the job, but not as good as hickory, if you make a short or very narrow bow). Historically yew backing was really only used backing yew heartwood.