Yew short bow advice

[Maxwelliuston]

Seeking sage advice from people who know much more than I do

I've got this 3 year old yew. 56" long, 4"ish wide, weird character on the end, a few knots here and there. What are my best options here? Impulsively, I want to make a short heavy pig of a recurved flat bow with 2" limbs and a non bending handle. Realistically and unfortunately, I'm not sure that would be the best use of the wood. Would I be better off trying to split/saw 2 short elbs out of here? I've never done that design before. The character on the one end is throwing my for a loop as well. If I were to go the flat bow route, how would that area be best addressed?

I'm open to ideas, not married to anything right now. I just want to do what's best fitted for this piece. Also, it's my first time working yew.

Thanks!

[Bryce]

Ripping it down the middle is a good idea, and taking one yew billet and turning it into 2 is something I do a lot. If you wanted to to a shorty recurve, a few layers of sinew would do you some good to add some flexibility.
Either way, have fun with it.



    Bryce

[Hamish]

 The crown looks too high for 1 short wide bow.

Personally I would bandsaw it down the middle, and get 2, 2" wide staves. .

Your options then would be make a full length bow with the joined billets, or

2 short bows of various designs up to 1.75 inches wide.

How experienced are you at bowmaking? What sort of bow would you like to make, eg flatbow, with x"s draw length etc?

If you haven't made many bows already, I would wait a while before tackling any yew stave.

[Gimlis Ghost]

If theres only enough good straight grained wood there for two seperate limbs you can join, a yew takedown bow would be a good project. The longer the limbs the longer the bow so you might end up with a proper long bow afterall.

[Maxwelliuston]

The crown looks too high for 1 short wide bow.

Personally I would bandsaw it down the middle, and get 2, 2" wide staves. .

Your options then would be make a full length bow with the joined billets, or

2 short bows of various designs up to 1.75 inches wide.

How experienced are you at bowmaking? What sort of bow would you like to make, eg flatbow, with x"s draw length etc?

If you haven't made many bows already, I would wait a while before tackling any yew stave.

I've got maybe a little under a dozen bows under my belt. I'm just finishing up my first osage, I've got a hickory up next, and this will be after those. I've only made flat bows so far and I'm up to switch it up to an elb if that's the design that fits the high crown best. I usually aim for 50#-65# @28 but if this yew could take heavier, I'm all for kicking up my draw to +75# and if it needs a shorter draw, I'm down for it

[Hamish]

Sounds like you're ready to go(or bow).

[RyanY]

Seems like you could decrown it and sinew back it to get that short recurve. A Massey or Torges style bow would fit the bill.

[Del the cat]

It could easily make a very nice short wide bow... but.
1. The sapwood may be supect, it looks like rot may have set in. If it doesn't feel smooth and waxy under an edged too, then remove the sapwood and back it. Good clean, sound sapwood is vital. (Maybe test a small off-cut from the edg once you rough it out)
2. You may need to reduce the sapwood thickness, either de-crown, or follow a ring (approximately). The result may look like a sapwood bow with a srip of heartwood down the centre of the belly, which can be curved, flay or even slightly concave (hollow limb design)
Here's a pic of one I did from similar looking wood... it exploded. It shows a nice cross section, which whe viewed from the side would look like it is nearly all sapwood.
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2015/01/damn.html
3. It depends on the draw weight/draw length you want
Del