Yew Bow Help

[bigcountry]

Ok, I am trying to work on this yew stave I got.  It had alot of windshake damage but I think I made the layout to miss it all

Not the best stave in the world, but something to work on.  While bandsawing, the log twisted on me, and about 3/4 way up a limb, I got it too deep.  I figured I could leave it thicker there. 

Anyway, where should I go from here?  Should I smooth/round the edges of the sapwood?  Anyone have some rough dimensions to take more off the belly side?  I am trying to follow the TBB1 yew bow.  They have 1" handle wide, 1.25" handle deep, 4" from handle to fades, 1.25" wide at fades.  And going to 5/8" tips.  I want to band saw some more belly  before rasping and floor tillering.  But I need some safety lines

I want it to be 55-60lbs at 29" draw.  Its 70" Tip to tip now.  I am pretty open to design.  Most likely a d-cross scection or flat D.

[bigcountry]

Here's a side view

[bigcountry]

Here's where I got too deep where the stave twisted whil bandsawing

[bigcountry]

Here is a belly view where I let the stave twist on the bandsaw.

[YewArcher]

Big,

Whats your sap wood depth on that?

SJM

[bigcountry]

Sapwood is about 3/8ths of an inch.  The pure white stuff.  But seems to fade into the heartwood

[Dano]

If it were me I'd work the sapwood down to 3/16 to 1/4"

[Pat B]

From now on I would only use a good rasp and scraper. A band saw can make 2 lil bows out of that before you know it.   You could take the sap wood down a bit also.      Pat

[sailordad]

that there is exactly why i only use hand tools when making  bows.

that and the fact that i dont have enough bow wood to take that kind of chance with

good luck with it,your asking the right folks for advise

[YewArcher]

I would take the sap wood down as well. Its a bit much for the weight bow you are making. Its not that hard to chase rings in yew. Yew ( I mean you) sorry for the pun, its early.......just need to use a shap cabinet scraper and go real slow, one ring at a time.

As far as the bow design goes. I would make a nice bend through the handel elb out of that piece of wood. It looks nice and straight and would certainly make a nice one. That saw mishap may cause you some problems though it looks pretty deeply cut into the profile.....if its not to bad you could use that angle to then make your D section. Its hard to tell from the photos. For a nice elb blank try this.

Centerline 1 1/8", 5" out 1 1/8", 10" out 1", 10" out 7/8", then taper to the tips to 9/16". For the depth make it easy and go centerline 1", 5" off 1", 10" off 7/8", 10" off3/4" then taper to 9/16". Get the bow to that point with square edges then round your D belly and ease the edge of the back nicely. That "should get you a nice bending start. The rest will be tillering. You may need to shave the whole thing down a bit once you start the tillering process.....that will largley depend on the wood. This lay out should give you  a bit extra meat in case you need it.

Understand that you need to look at those numbers as a staring point for your design. Every piece of wood is different and will behave differnt. Every bowyer works differntly. If I had that sitting in front of me that is how I would lay it out.

SJM

[YewArcher]

ps.......you are way close enough to a finish bow that you should jsut use hand tools.

SJM

[bigcountry]

ps.......you are way close enough to a finish bow that you should jsut use hand tools.

SJM

This stuff is strange to work.  I tried using a draw knife on the belly, but it cut in and then would pull up other word.  I tryed a ferriers rasp and would do great on the sap but heartwood wouldn't touch it.  I then tried my nicholson 49 and it works ok.

so you guys think I should rasp off an entire 1" of wood from teh tip?  Not cut anymore?

[Pat B]

PATIENCE will make a bow. Impatience makes firewood!  You could reduce the tips with your drawknife but go slow. Use your #49 on the sapwood then a scraper to try to get as close to one ring as possible. With yew, you don't have to get to one ring as long as the violations aren't too bad.  Do the sapwood removal first before you reduce the thickness of the tips. I prefer to leave the tips thick until the tillering is complete then reduce them  so they just don't bend. I leave the handle area full width and thickness until tillering is done also but it is too late for that now.        Pat

[bigcountry]

I need to get a vise or finish my shaving horse to work down the sapwood.  I have a spokeshave I can try to use on the belly.

I am just shocked it works so much different than osage or hickory.  I figured it would draw knife like hickory. 

Maybe my drawknife is too sharp.

I figured I would scrape only on the sapwood.

[YewArcher]

The 3 best tools for working yew are drawknife (used properly it will removes small almsot tranparent shavings of wood), Cabinet scraper and 36 grit sand paper. I usually tiller my yew bows with just sandpaper. Its a finicky wood that looses weight real fast.

The trick with the draw knie is to have it very sharp and use it very very lightly.

Osage = rasps

Yew = sharp drawknife

SJM