I just came back from Idaho. I stayed at a friends house and he has a bunch of Yew logs that were cut down about 7 months ago. How long does it take for wood to dry enough for bow work? He has offered to bring me some if I want it on his next trip down. I might try to build a bow, I say try as I don't know if I have the skill to do it. I thought it would be interesting to try it from stump to shooter?
I've made a couple of bows from yew but it was yew that was aged several years. I don't know if yew can be quick dried. Typically a stave would take 1 year for each inch of thickness. You may want to try some learning woods like hickory, oak or maple before cracking open a prime yew stave. My site has info. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
Your right George and it sounds like I'll have plenty of time to practice if it's going to take a few years of drying time. The only reason I was considering it is these a free logs, delivered and would have been chipped for particle board.
Should I split them into staves or seal and dry them whole?
Thank you for your help.
Depending on the environment it has been subjected to, you could have cracking already, (I'm assuming he did not seal the ends and split onto staves for you).
I have taken Yew from standing to a bow in as little as a month, that is roughing out, sealing, and then using a hot box.
I don't recommend this because I have also ruined one or two by drying them too fast but I had plenty to play with and learn with.
I would treat it like most woods I wanted to minimize drying time on.........rough out a bow, seal the back and ends, I seal the whole bow when using the hot box. Put it on a caul of some sort the leave in a warm dry place. Depending on how warm and how dry, you could have it ready to work on in a month or two, considering that the Yew has been on the ground for seven months already. The stuff I was working with was fresh cut.
Mark
Thanks George, Mark I'll inspect the logs for cracks when he brings them. I walk around and touched a couple that he is bringing and they looked fairly solid no cracking yet. He isn't coming for a month so I'll re-check them. None of them will be sealed when I get them and I hope they are still in good condition... This stuff is all new to me so we'll see :)
I would split them and seal them as soon as i had my hands them. If they are already checked that is where I would start driving a wedge. Just how I do it, I'm sure there are other ways and opinions,
Mark
Mark, would you split them AND debark them? Do you seal just the ends or the split side too...if debarked do you seal that side as well?
I normally leave the bark/skin on the Yew. If you do remove it then you need to seal the back also.
At a minimum I would split the logs into staves and seal the ends, store in a moderate temp, dry place.
Careful removing the bark, the first layer of sap wood may be the back of your bow. Or you may decide to go down a few rings based on the thickness of the sapwood.