Is there a way to make a bow out of this?

[drumgerry]

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This is one of two yew staves (Taxus baccata) I cut out on the bandsaw this afternoon.  I am a newbie to bowmaking and I'm wondering whether I could bend the kink out of this stave to make it usable.  It's 64 inches long

If anyone has any ideas how I could proceed with this I'd be very grateful.

[dwardo]

I would cut off the top 4 inches and rough out a bow. Then try and steam and heat out most of the bend. The main thing is to get the string to intersect the handle.
If i was given the stave I would certainly try it and maybe lose even more length to lose some of that top bend.

Certainly would not cut wood like that new as its a whole lotta work. Some like more of a challenge than me mind.

[BOWMAN53]

just bend the bottom limb to line up with the top and now you got a nice snakey yew

[Del the cat]

Yes.
I did a stick bow aon my blog that was waaaay off line. Trying to bend sideways requires tons of heat and oatience.
I found a work around by bending it at the grip which had been narrowed. I narroed it further by cutting out a chunk, bending it and the putting a chunk back in. It makes bending much easier and gives pinpoint control over the bend position.
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/straightening-stick-bow.html
Del

[The Gopher]

Del, i love your method of bending the handle, that's being filed somewhere in my brain.

[drumgerry]

Thanks for the replies.  Much appreciated.

I like the idea of cutting it down to closer to bow dimensions but can foresee problems laying it out accurately along that big curve. 

Is there a chance I could bend it using dry heat rather than steam once that top section is a bit narrower?  And if steam is the answer how much of that top section am I going to have to heat to get the bend to take?

Quite keen to make a bow from this and its sister stave as I cut it last year from a very old tree in my garden.  I live in northern Scotland and yew trees don't grow quickly here!

[drumgerry]

Extreme closeup of an end of the stave.  Width 2 3/8", height 1 1/8".  Don't really fancy chasing one of those wiggly rings.  So can I just de-bark and call it good for the back?

[Del the cat]

Trying to bend a flat bow style bow sideways is a nightmare. You can get some bend on a skinny longbow style bow and you can get some movement near the tips.
With Yew you can get a way with not following along the grain to a small extent. Bu I'd go for the handle bend trick if it were me.
Or maybe cut it into billets and splice it straight.
Del

[BOWMAN53]

its alot easier if you can boil it somehow. ive got some pretty twisted yew and its alot easier to bend when boiled.

[dmenzies1950]

Bowman53 has the right idea in my opinion. If the string runs over the center of the handle you've got a cool snaky bow! Just heat and bend the bottom to match the top.

Dale

[drumgerry]

Ok so I've cut the little squiggle at the top off and I've trimmed the sides down a bit so there's a flat surface for me to clamp on to a form.

I think I'm going to try for the sideways bend and see how it goes.  I'll post a pic or two once it's done or report back on my failure if it doesn't get done.  It would have been less hassle if I could have used dry heat.  But I'll rig something up to hold steam from a wallpaper steamer and see what happens.

Thanks again for all the help.

[Hrothgar]

You said one of two staves...if you still have the other half and its in good shape another option might be to get a billet out of each and join them at the handle for a straight stave.

[mikekeswick]

You said one of two staves...if you still have the other half and its in good shape another option might be to get a billet out of each and join them at the handle for a straight stave.

That's the answer!

[Del the cat]

All this rather begs the question...
Why was it sawn that way and not at 90 dgees to that?
The bend would have all been reflex or deflex, much easier the straighten than a sideways bend.
Del

[drumgerry]

Del the reason it was sawn like that was to leave a few rather large knots on the side of the stave rather than on the belly.  They could then be removed when cutting the stave down to bow size.