snakey yew bow

[arrowhead archer]

hi guys with your help I finished my snakey osage bow and it came out great.Now I'm doing a snakey yew longbow and was wondering how important it is to get all the cambrium off the sap wood were it is in the troughs if I have to remove all of it I will have to take off 3 layers of sap wood and so far I haven't violated the sap wood rings.

[Pat B]

Yew is one bow wood that can handle some grain violation on the back. I would guess a little cambium wouldn't hurt anything. Most yew has such thin growth rings that it is almost impossible to not violate the sapwood some.

[Buemaker]

If looking at the cross section of a Yew stave it sometimes has very tiny riples or waves between the bark and sapwood. Instead of violating the sapwood's outer ring I leave some of the brown stuff on,makes a nice decoration. If some of it wants to come off it will do so when you start to bend the bow. If the sapwood have an acceptable thickness I start bending the stave without taking off the bark, it usually pops off or can be gently pried off and leaves a perfect surface without any scraping. It sounds kind of scary because the bark cracks like the stave is breaking. Even though Yew can have very thin year rings I find it easy to get the bark off without violating a ring, if you have to scrape it. Patience and good lighting is the thing. Bue--.

[canopyboy]

I thought there was an optimum ratio of sapwood to heartwood for a yew bow? I'm about to start a great old yew stave, but it has 3/8" or more of sapwood and I'm pretty sure I need to thin that down a bit beyond the cambium layer. Just not sure how far.

[Pat B]

What style bow are you building, David?  You can probably leave more sapwood on an ELB style than a flat bow because of the limb thickness.

[arrowhead archer]

thanks Bue the stave I'm working on has close to 1 " humps in it besides snakey side to side and it took me 3 days to get were I'm at if this bow turns out I'll be surprised.

[arrowhead archer]

I was going to ask how flexible is deer raw hide and how thin should I scrape it down to

[Pat B]

Deer rawhide is excellent bow backing. It I already thin so all you have to do is glue it down.
Will you post pics of your yew stave? It will help us help you.

[arrowhead archer]

I don't know how to post pictures if someone can tell me how I will try

[mikkekeswick]

Put your pictures on photobucket and just copy and paste the 'direct link' into your message.

I would also just leave the cambium and let it pop off when tillering.

[canopyboy]

Originally posted by Pat B:
What style bow are you building, David?  You can probably leave more sapwood on an ELB style than a flat bow because of the limb thickness.

I haven't completely decided. Toying with an ELB, but feeling more comfortable going with something a bit flatter (closer to a Hill style.) Either way, I think there's a target ratio of sapwood to heartwood. I was thinking somewhere around 25%, but I've got no basis for that guess. I doubt I want to leave the full thickness on even an ELB as I'm not looking to go 100+ pounds with it.

[Buemaker]

I have made quite a few Yew bows in my time and have found that a 50/50 ratio or even more sapwood at the nocks is quite acceptable . I have made ELBs with 2/3 of sapwood at the nock ends. I once made a light  Yew semi flat bow with all sapwood(the stave had an inch of sapwood) it shot just fine. Of course it looks very attractive with a 1/4 to 1/3 of sapwood, but I have not found it necessary to be so.  I have only used the European Yew (Taxus Baccata ) I do not think the American Yew (Taxus Brevifola ) is much different. Bue--. (Smart ass)  

[canopyboy]

Thanks Bue.

I think when I get a chance to get started this winter, I'll post a build-along and get input there instead of hijacking other peoples' threads. (Sorry Craig)

[arrowhead archer]

I have no idea what a photo bucket is or how to paste pictures to it

[arrowhead archer]

hey guys I have another question my bow I'm making has a trough in the middle of the limb from side to side the edges of the limb are the same so do I need to make a hump in the belly in the middle of the limb in reference to the sides it's far enough from the tip that I'm still trying to keep a rectangular shape

[arrowhead archer]

I've got the bow on the tillering tree and it's starting to come around but one limb has a 1 1/2" kick towards the belly just from following the grain I was wondering if I could use dry heat to try and straighten it? It's in the last 8" from the tip

[fujimo]

google "photobucket"
get signed up
download your pics from your hard drive to photo bucket, and then copy the address from photobucket to the forum- very brief explanation!

[fujimo]

google "photobucket"
get signed up
download your pics from your hard drive to photo bucket, and then copy the address from photobucket to the forum- very brief explanation!
try this thread
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=75;t=000478#000004

[arrowhead archer]

thanks guy's I posted pic's under posting pic's on bowyers bench

[arrowhead archer]