Question on Yew stave.

[Keenan]

Pappy, Just take it to a floor tiller slightly heavier then your normal for the reason of the fact it's softer wood then your used to working. Softer = making mistakes faster. I usually get to floor tiller and the back it when I feel comfortable with the profile being where I want it.  Remembering that it's harder to heat treat after the backing is on,
  You can wait till closer to final tiller but I find it's easy to come in to light when I wait to long. As long as the string alignment is fairly good you can do minor adjustments in the handle later if you need to.

[mullet]

 Pappy, I've violated growth rings on the sapwood with no problems. I only backed it with thin deer rawhide, and I mean the thinnest I could find, to protect it from nicks and bangs. Yew tends to get beat up hunting with it. It is soft.

[Pappy]

I plan on using the belly skin of a deer hide to back it,do you heat treat it like most woods or just heat to correct limb problems BigCountry I oil the whole bow and clamp it in the handle then heat and work my way down each limb one at a time putting in the reflex and correcting any problemsI know I have.I am not really heat treating the bow at this time,just  using heat to correct any problems so it is easier to see the tiller.
   Pappy

[fusizoli]

Just low dense yew needs treat.

[Pappy]

Thanks.
   Pappy

[mullet]

 I've only used steam to correct it. I worried too much about over drieing it like cedar to use the heat gun.

[Pat B]

Pappy, the belly skin is the stretchiest part of the hide. The strongest is down the back. Midway down the hide(from back to belly) would give you the best of both worlds. Also, hide stretched more across the hide than down it's length.
  Your bow is coming along nicely.

[Pappy]

Thanks Pat,I will keep that in mind when I cut it out.
   Pappy

[Michael C.]

Maybe someone has already answered this somewhere else, but does it make a big difference if you use dry heat and oil or is it better to steam yew? I seem to remember someone having bad luck with dry heat and it causing the bow to eventually snap in another thread.

[rossfactor]

This steam dry heat conversation maybe should become its own thread, so's not to divert from Pappys sweet bow.  But...
I'm pretty sure that you lose a considerable amount of moisture when using steam also.  The heat drives it out of the wood even though its in a moisture rich environment. It would be interesting to see a side by side dry heat vs steam comparison on the same wood, evaluating moisture content before and after.

Things are looking real good Pappy,  I'm looking forward to this.

Gabe

[Michael C.]

Sorry 'bout that must be my eh dee dee, yeah I can't wait to see the bow finished too.

[Pappy]

No problem,I talked to Gary Davis on straightening this one out and he told me he always uses dry heat with oil,he said he has used steam but and hour after he straightened it ,it was back like he started ,so I used oil and dry heat.so far it has held.Hope to get it on the long string Friday
evening.
   Pappy

[Michael C.]

Cool thanks for the info.

[Roger]

Pappy,

I've Had the same "creep back" issues on the Yew I have had the opportunity to work using steam. a generous saturation period after treatment will prevent a possible blow up, at least for me (ain't broke one yet).

Just a thought...

R

[Pappy]

Thanks Roger,It's been a week since I heat straightened it. I plan on long string today.
   Pappy