English longbow from Dutch yew, comments welcome, especially on tiller

[marcelslot]

Dear all,

Just finished my first English longbow yesterday. It is the first bow I ever made from a yew tree branch (4" wide yew tree branch). Before this bow, I have made a few flatbows of maple, ash and hickory.
This particular ELB came out at 74" and 55lbs at 28" draw. I included some pictures, especially one where the tiller can be judged. Seems that I can 'fit' the bend of the bow with two ellipses. It seems quite symmetrical, which surprised me since it did not look very good on the tiller-rig. During the tillering process I did not make any pictures, as I never do. I just eye-balled it and worked the wood as it looked and felt 'right'.

The cow horn nocks were quite difficult to make, but came out OK in the end. I can't seen to get them up to a really glossy shine though through polishing. I even used a Dremel tool in the end with polishing paste an all, but the nocks are still somewhat scratchy and dull.

This bow was finished with three coats of Danish oil and the wood simply looks amazing I thik. Ivory kind of look of the sapwood and nice pinkish coloured heartwood. The leather handle I crafted late last night from leather and fits the bow I think.

The wood came from a branch of a yew tree of about 4" diameter, and this branch had quite a lot of sapwood. I did not work down the sapwood, but kept the outer ring beneath the bark as back of the bow. This did result in a bow with a relative large thickness of sapwood... don't know what the consequences are. The bow shoots like a charm. Very smooth draw and consistent grouping when I shot it this morning in my yard.

Let me know what you guys think, especially on the tiller of this bow and the best way to treat/store/use this longbow. As said, I have no experience whatsoever with an ELB and yew as bow wood.

Kind regards,
Marcel

[Aaron H]

I think you did a fantastic job Marcel, the finish work is great. 

[WillS]

Very nice!! Pretty hard to see the tiller however, with all the lines on it.  Have you got the original pic without the drawings on? 

I'd say the top limb about halfway up needs to work harder, at this stage.  That could be the blue lines making it tricky to see, though.

[ajbruggink]

I think you did a great job. The more experienced guys could chime in about the tiller, I think it looks good, better than any I've ever made, but I'm no expert. I like the look of that yew.

[marcelslot]

I think you did a great job. The more experienced guys could chime in about the tiller, I think it looks good, better than any I've ever made, but I'm no expert. I like the look of that yew.

Hi, thanks for the comment. I have attached a picture without the lines. At least, I think it is the same picture, as I made a bunch of them and added the lines only on one...

Maybe this gives a better view of the tiller?

Best,
Marcel

[PatM]

Flip the picture vertically and you will be able to see that the upper limb needs to come round more.

[burchett.donald]

   I agree with PatM...A few scrapes in the center portion of the upper limb...Beautiful bow sir
                                                                                                                                            Don

[adb]

the outer half of the upper limb could bend more IMO. I would have thinned the sapwood a bit more if that was my bow. Otherwise, it's very nice!

[WillS]

Yup that pic confirms it.  Middle of the top limb needs to be bending a touch more.

By the way, although it's usually a bit of a debate regarding sapwood thickness, generally speaking the less the better.  The power and speed is in the heartwood, and the sapwood is pretty much there to stop it coming apart.  You can make all heartwood yew bows that perform very well, and often (but not always) extra sapwood thickness can lead to more set, and a slightly more "soggy" bow.  A few mm here and there won't make any difference, but in general try and get it down as much as you can.

Once you've got that top limb coming round more that will be a beautiful bow! Well done.

[marcelslot]

Dear all,

Thanks for the comments.

I flipped the picture, and at first it seemed indeed that the upper limb should bend a little more. However, I noticed something very interesting. Can't wait to hear your opinion.

As said, I never made pictures to judge the tiller. Now I did, and have them available, I just wanted to do one more check before starting to afjust the tiller and scrape wood of the upper limb.

Please have a look at the attached picture. Here I have first rotated the picture 0,5 degrees, which is only a very small amount. I was thinking about the 'flipping' of the picture suggestion> I wthought that this would only be really right to compare the limb bend when the bow would have been held absolutely vertical and drawn absolutely horizontal.... I thought that this would have been purely coincidence.

So, when rotating the picture to the right only 0,5 degrees, and THEN flipping it... I was amazed!

Please look carefully at the attached picture. There is a center line horizontal that marks exactly the middle of the bow (vertically). There are a few 'help lines', which now show in THIS slightly rotated picture, that the tips of both the upper and lower limb bend exactly the same amount... horizontally. So, my question is: what do you think of my reasoning?
Is this bow symmetrical in bend or not?

I did not realize that 'vertically flipping' of a picture could give a distorted view .... am I wrong?

Best,
Marcel

[Springbuck]

  Just a tiny scape at exactly 2/3 out along the upper limb.

Beautiful.

[Del the cat]

Flip the picture vertically and you will be able to see that the upper limb needs to come round more.

+1
I'd say the outer third could bend a little more, but that's being a bit picky, it's a fine bow.
Good looking bow from a smallish piece of Yew.
I was thinking it may have looked a tiny bit better up the other way, but it's a bit late now you have the grip on it.
This post from my blog shows what a difference it can make.
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/tillering-symmetry.html
Once it's had a year or so to age, the heart wood will darken a bit and it will look superb.
I think you could draw it a bit more too
Del

[PatM]

I actually meant flip the pic so that it appears the bow is on a  tiller tree. Getting the tips travelling the same amount is not the same as HOW they get to that point. Your lower limb is getting there by evenly distributed bend while the upper is getting there by concentrating more bend in one spot.
 Scraping the upper limb won't necessarily make the upper limb tip travel more. The spot that's bending a bit too much closer to the handle will have some of the pressure taken off and bend less as the bend is eased into the outer wood.

[marcelslot]

Thanks Pat...

I now understand what you mean. So, looking at it rotated 90 degrees horizontally as if it were on the tiller rig. I also understand your explanation about the evenly distributed bending. The upper part of the upper limb could bend some more indeed, although having these pictures side by side helps: the difference is not large, so I will be very careful in scraping some more wood of the upper limb outer part....

Thanks.

Be well, Marcel

[Gordon]

That is a beautiful bow. I would leave it just as it is.