Is Yew Good?

[Cromm]

Hi, I've never made or owned a Yew English longbow but being British/English it seem's to be in my blood to have one! The thing is i spoke to a top bowmaker in England about a yew self bow and he said that yew is a rubbish bow wood if you want a long lasting bow.......He said that they work well for the first year max then after that they turn to jelly, and that i should go for a Hickory backed Osage orange longbow instead. The bow would be 55lb at 28in. So is he right because i do not know what to do now?
Thanks for your time PA fans!!!!!

[Marc St Louis]

Well now.  That is interesting.  I just read on PP where Steve Gardner just tested a Yew longbow built in 1948.  It's still shooting quite well, in fact he chronographed it at 164 fps with 10GPP.  Not too shabby IMO

[Lost Arra]

Sounds like the top bowmaker is out of yew.

[david w.]

   there are warbows in a ship wreck that were about 400yrs. old and i am pretty sure they were shootable.
If i am right it is what you call a Mary Rose bow

[Keenan]

Well if that is true no one has bothered to tell my yew bows   They just seem to get stronger with age. Seriously most I've made with yew have gained a little as they aged.

[Pat B]

The only downfall I see with yew is that it can't take abuse. The woos is soft so it doesn't take much to dent it. If yew was a trash wood it wouldn't still be used for bows. A few years ago, other experts said that osage and yew were the only woods worth making bows out of. See how smart those guys were.    Pat

[alanesq]

I know lots of people who shoot self yew warbows very regularly but I have not found anyone who has reported this to be the case ?

[medicinewheel]

Sounds like the top bowmaker is out of yew.

think so, too!

[Rich Saffold]

This is truly funny..A top bowmaker in England says Yew is rubbish..he must be burning some serious tree to get that delusional...Granted nowadays there's a lot more good bows woods and open minds about using them, but that doesn't make high density yew any less of a top notch wood..

Like Keenan mentioned my only yew selfbow gets stronger with age...I'd love to get more of that 60 rpi stuff without having to trade a kid to get it

Rich

[Badger]

Really good yew is magic, I have never had the opportunity to work with any euro yew wood but would love to. I usually make a few yew bows each year. I have had some good ones and some bad ones, some my fault and some questionable wood. But I have had 2 yew bows that I would give my right testacle to get back. One of them I built for a guy about 7 years ago, 65# @ 28" he draws it to about 27", I still get to shoot it every now and then and just can't get enough of it. I have had some problems with yew delaminating between the growth rings. I have leaned to catch this problem before tillering starts as the color change is evident and not hard to see. I have also had what i thought were perfectly tillered bows just pop in half. But I still love good yew wood. Steve

[ChrisD]

I know the bowyer in question, I know his views  and consider him a friend - so I'm going to make a couple of comments here to bring the discussion back to a proper context because to quote him as saying 'yew is rubbish' without some background which I'm sure he provided is unfair.

The truth is actually already in the thread for anybody that bothers to read it and draw sensible conclusions.

1) Yew is a softwood
2)It can delaminate along the grain
3)Badger has only made 2 yew bows he'd really rather have kept.

That says it all really because none of it is consistent with making great long lasting bows. Historically we know this to have been the case too - from the sheer numbers of staves imported to England per annum for a relatively small bow using population and from the resupply needs of armies even after short campaigns. High draw weight high performance yew bows never lasted all that long.

Why do some think that high draw weight yew bows do last more than a season or two? Because most people who own these things are incapable of using them properly. Instead of working the bow, the bow is working them - what a surprise that the thing outlasts those archers. Put a self yew bow in the hands of an archer who can really wring it by the neck, and it generally chrysals very quickly indeed. There really is only one Archer of whom this can truly be said with heavy bows in the UK and that is of course Simon Stanley. Yes, he has owned the odd yew bow which lasted a long time, but by and large they don't survive in his company for too long which is why he uses them for special occasions only.

Whats the problem with yew? It isn't great at resisting shear - too soft and too poorly interlocked between the rings. Sap is good in tension, heartwood is good in compression,its light and can therefore be very quick - but it isn't great at resisting the sheer forces which you inevitably get, particularly the bigger you build these things and that is a real achilles heel. This is why it prospers better as a core wood with a hickory back and osage belly - that makes a really good bow - or as thin laminates in flatbows.

Yew is of course a beautiful wood and has huge emotional appeal when it gets turned into a bow. Not only that, but anyone who is seriously interested in archery history cannot take themselves seriously unless they own a yew bow. But lets not confuse emotion and a historical perspective with the hard facts of materials science.

Chris

[Hartung]

"Yew is a softwood and no matter what you do with it Yew bows at the higher weights have a limited working life. It is entirely possible to have "shot out" a 100lb yew bow in under a year with regular use. It has been said that a medieval war bow in daily use could be "shot out" in about a month and the life expectancy in battle might be no more than 2 – 3 dozen arrows"

[Cromm]

he said that yew is a rubbish bow wood if you want a long lasting bow....

Hi, ChrisD i hope you didn't think i or the bowmaker was putting Yew wood down in my quote?
I was just after a bow that was worth it's money and would stand up to the job.
The bowmaker in question gave his opinion freely,and as it's been said yew bows can be a lot of cash for a good one, but being from the UK it just seem that your head is saying go for the bow that will last a lifetime and will roll with the knocks and your heart says.....YEW BOW ALL THE WAY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for all of the informion and help people have put on the subject but the jury is still out on this one........ hhmmmmm Yew......

[ChrisD]

Cromm

I know exactly what the bowmaker meant when was talking to you - I've had many conversations with him on the same topic myself. When people get quoted - particularly a short soundbite - odd ideas flower like a fungus. Read back on how some have interpreted the initial post.

In my experience, people who are interested in the warbow generally accumulate numerous types of bow in their collection, making the impact of one or two not so longlasting possessions less severe. I have a Swiss Self Yew and an Osage Hickory at 110lb and 100lb respectively, both by Bickerstaffe and both superb. I also recently acquired a Belcher Union Jack Reflex at 105lb - and that is simply stunning. All this has occurred over a period of 3-4 years, so the overall outlay is not that huge - one of these bows actually slipped in under the wire without the wife even noticing!

So be patient - and I'd recommend buying something tough which you can work into first before going for something high performance, but maybe a bit delicate. You've got to remember that with self bows, nobody knows how well they will last until the endgame - a bit like a human life really. There can be all sorts of flaws inside the wood which affect tiller, performance and longevity in unpredictable ways. With a high quality laminate though, you do get a certain level of confidence in the materials - particularly with someone who sources his woods as carefully and craftily as Pip (Bickerstaffe).

Chris

[boze]

    Hello Chris, I just wanted to say I agree that Simon is a great archer but lets not forget Mark Stretton!