Another Yew Hunting Bow

[Keenan]

 That should be a breeze to straighten. Dry heat and Crisco shortening.   Yew heat bends very well, Just make sure to go a touch past where you want to end up.

[gstoneberg]

Thanks Keenan, I'm such a yew novice I need all the help I can get.  I will give that a try.

George

[Del the cat]

As Keenan says, but IMO it doesn't need much overbend compared with other woods I've used, just a few% rather than 10%
Del

[youngbowyer]

I hear ya gstoneberg I was working on mine last night and like you said the draw knife when through it like butter btu the scraper just slid across it like a I was trying to scrape a piece of glass and I had just sharpened it to.  humm looks like files wrasps and sand paper on this build. 

Matt

Oh and good luck on your hunt I hope you bring home the bacon!

My scraper didnt work on yew either but then i ran my angle grinder over it and it works fine now

[gstoneberg]

OK thanks guys.  Sounds like it bends like osage.  I should be OK, but time'll tell.

George

[gstoneberg]

Took a shot at straightening my yew bow.  First attempt didn't quite get the tips lined up, but got most of it.  Since the handle is straight, I bent it again further out in the far limb.  That is cooling out in the shop as I type.  Here's bend #1:



Hopefully I bent it enough this time.

George

[Gaur]

looking good.  I love yew.  Just have made one bow from it so far as I live on the other side of the world from where it grows.

[gstoneberg]

Thanks, and I'm glad it's sometimes planted as an ornamental or I wouldn't have this one.  Sadly, I pulled the weight off the first handle bend too early and some of the bend in the center came back overnight.  Bummer.  3 heatings and it's still not straight.



I'll get it tonight.  It would be easier to bend if I went further and got it closer to its final shape, but I like to remove the oily and discolored wood from the bending process in my tillering.  Do I have to let yew rehydrate the way I do osage after a heating?  One thing I don't like about yew is how soft it is.  I can clamp osage in the vise with abandon and a couple scraper swipes cleans up the marks.  This stuff can really crush, I'm having to use my vise protectors all the time.  Very pretty wood though, that little bit of oil really brings out the grain.

George

[Pat B]

I rarely use a spokeshave but yew and ERC have worked well with a spokeshave for me. I also used a bowyers edge when working with yew.

[blackhawk]

Clamp her down and set her out in that hot Texas sun. That'll set her straight

What a stubborn mule. You'll have that as ya know. Come on George. Show her who's boss. You got this. 

[gstoneberg]

I rarely use a spokeshave but yew and ERC have worked well with a spokeshave for me. I also used a bowyers edge when working with yew.

Drat, I just traded away my bowyers edge a few months ago.  I do have an old spokeshave somewhere if I can find it.  You can see my shop is not the epitome of cleanliness and order.

Clamp her down and set her out in that hot Texas sun. That'll set her straight

No way BH, I don't want to kill her...just train her a little.   The next bend will be centered in the handle, it'll cool over night, and she'll be straight!  Then the fun can begin.

George

[youngbowyer]

That stave is looking good George. Now I have the courage to go and try to heat fix my stave. What poundage are you shooting for?

[gstoneberg]

I'm trying for 60lbs Tom.  I don't use a caul, and it took me 4 heatings to get it.  I had to go a little further past straight than I do with osage.  Somebody said that earlier and they were right.  It would have worked with 1 heating had I pulled it further past where I wanted it.  There would have been some character in each limb and that would have been fine.  I guess a benefit to 4 heatings is that it is now dead straight.




There's bad news though.  One time it slipped out of the vise when I was bending it and the back of the bow got damaged where it hit the screw on the vise.  I'm going to have to go down at least a ring on the back or narrow the bow a bit to get it out.  I wonder if I could just have a more rounded back than I had planned?  I had decrowned the back, but maybe I should just follow the curve a little more?  Any of you yew guys (I've been wanting to say that ) have any advice for me?




Thanks,
George

[youngbowyer]

I had a saw cut in the back of a yew bow once and I just wrapped it with sinew and it was fine

[gstoneberg]

I decided I had enough depth and took another growth ring off the back.  Then I decided I had enough width and narrowed the limb enough to remove the rest of that goof.  I cut some nocks and put a long string on it.  Like all reflexed bows, it wants to turn upside down on the tillering setup.  But, since it was reflexed only in one limb, I didn't like the look of the bend.  So, I gave it yet another heating and now it's pretty even.  The near limb in the picture is the naturally reflexed limb, the far one is the one I bent.  I'll work on another bow or do some knapping and give this one a rest now.

Edit: I was wrong, that kink in the near limb is where I added the reflex.  The far limb has the natural reflex.

George