Old Yew Bow

[adb]

I wouldn't shoot that either. I would proudly display it.

[Badger]

  I agree with you, if the bow breaks it wasn't really a bow anyway. A wall hanger is worthess. I vote for shoot it.

[Carson (CMB)]

Unless it has been stored next to the wood fire or took a good ding across the back, there is no reason it wont joyfully fling arrows under the sun as its maker originally intended.  Just take it slow as outlined above just to err on the side of caution.  Would be great to see more photos, including brace and full draw. 

[Buck67]

I will gently try to bring this back into use.  The wood does not look dry, the old varnish still looks in good condition except for a few worn spots.  Original muzzleloaders seem to be better taken care of if they are shot, cleaned and oiled on a regular basis.  I hope that I will be able to report the same for this bow.

[tallpine]

If it was mine, I'd shoot it, wall hangers don't interest me either

[Hamish]

Its probably okay to try and shoot as long as its structurally sound, and its slowly retrained. Problem with old bows that they get broken by ignorance, as the vast majority of people(not people who frequent this site) have no idea of what they are doing. I personally wouldn't do it because its a waste to risk something original, and authentic. At some point if a bow keeps getting shot it will break.


With a bow that might be historically rare or valuable it is probably better to have an experienced bowyer make a copy of the design.

I personally have shot old bows that probably shouldn't still be shot. They were vintage tubular steel bows, they had a reputation for breaking from metal fatigue and rusting in the internal tubing. I was warned not to risk shooting them.

Fortunately none of them broke, but after I realised they were very mediocre performers, I lost interest in shooting them anyway. I feel they are better as curio's, left intact rather than as broken junk.

Most of my antique wooden bows(especially yew) have scratches, bruises or other dings on the back and I know it would be too risky to try shooting them. The funny thing is many of these old bows don't follow the standard information we have been left in books. Differences in limb design, handle lengths and layouts, nock design and other small nuances are apparent. Bows that have been layed up in billets with intentional deflex yet haven't taken any more  set along the limbs that you would usually expect.  Some of these old bowyers really knew what they were doing. It would be a shame to lose this kind of information.

Also that "ivory " strip does not look like genuine ivory to me, because of the series of parallel lines running down its length look too even, like some kind of manufactured synthetic.

           Hamish.

 

[PatM]

The bow could still be very valuable even if it isn't to you personally. It would be a shame to lose a bow that really represents the high water mark of  the wooden bow era.

[Badger]

  The bow has an arrow shelf cut into it. I doubt it has a value of over abou t$50.00, plenty of old yew bows showing up.

[PatM]

An arrow shelf is a real value killer? I'd do some research on the bow before breaking it. 

[Hamish]

Its likely that the arrow shelf is original. Folberth was a real archery innovator. Later models laminated from hickory and osage and lemonwood are the forerunners of modern traditional glassed recurves. They had arrow windows and shelves.
The fact that it has a Folberth stamp makes it more collectible than an unattributed bow. $50 is an absolute bargain price. More likely to be worth $100-200, possibly  more to the right collector.
That being said a modern repro or interpretation by Badger or another top bowyer is likely to be a better performing bow if you wanted a shooter. A good modern yew could go from $700 to $1600 or more. Average retail cost of a full length yew is around $250( and has been for around the last 15yrs) Though they can be gotten for a lot less.
As you're a muzzleloader I'm guessing you're more of a hunter than a target shooter. That 72"Yew bow is primarily a target bow. Whilst yew is beautiful to shoot I probably wouldn't use unbacked yew for a hunting bow. Hardwoods (like osage) have better durability than yew under hunting conditions against dings and scratches.

    Hamish.

[Buck67]

I did some research on Folberth.  He actually patented the shoot through the bow idea.  His patent shows a metal handle with wooden limb inserts.  The handle has a large hole in it that the arrow is shot through, so the first center shot bow.  Fred Bear paid a patent license fee of 5 cents for each bow that they made to Folberth for as long as the patent lasted.

Folberth got rich patenting the first automatic windshield wiper and then selling it to the Big Three automakers.  His patent used the vacuum off the intake manifold to power the wiper.  Those of us who are old enough may remember the windshield wipers that slowed down every time you stepped on the gas.

Well, I'd rather trade this bow to a collector than risk breaking it.  I'll know not to buy any more old bows from here on unless they are fiberglass.  I have other bow options, I reckon I'll sell this off at the next big event that I attend. 

[PatM]

Folberth may have patented the shoot through the bow idea but the idea is much older. The TBB 3 shows a center shot bow from 1879 by "Wright and Thorne".
 Folberth still had some great ideas and innovative bows.

[Joec123able]

I'd try to shoot it if I were yew. I'd work super slow excersing the limbs hard for ever inch of tip movement if start without a string just looking at the floor tiller

[Buck67]

I spent about 2 weeks getting this old Yew bow used to being bent again.  Thanks to information here I started with gentle floor tillering and worked my way up.  When the bow seemed to be bending well without any funny sounds, I made a Flemish twist bowstring and started working the bow that way.  Started off with a 3" brace height and shot a number of arrows with a 28" pull.  Then the next day I twisted the string some more and had a 6" brace height and shot 30 or 40 arrows.  Finally I twisted the string to a full brace height and shot about 50 arrows with the bow.  It appears to be about a 35 to 40 pound pull.

It appears that this Yew bow stayed amazingly supple through the decades.  Sure would like to know it's story, it was well used and not abused and survived years of non-use.

[Carson (CMB)]

Good to hear.  Match some nice light cedar arrows to that bow and I bet it will shoot like a dream.