Blacksmith's *Stunning* 76" Yew Warbow 140#@32"

[ceolith]

...and again:

[Del the cat]

Cheers, beautiful clean stave (drools on keyboard)
(I can send you some knots if you want to add some character  )
Del

[Heffalump]

Hi Michael, that's an absolutely lovely looking bow!   

Tell me is this made from a dense Italian, or Swiss yew?

Bye the bye; I notice so much variation in the actual physical weight of the yew bows that I have bought (as opposed to the draw-weight)....some feel as light as pine and others feel like great hunks of mahogany. Its a personal thing for sure, but my preference, certainly in a warbow, is to have a good heavy bow, both in weight and draw weight......it just feels "right" to me!

John T.

p.s. I'll be in touch very soon on another bow if you keep posting up lovely pictures like this.....(absolutely dribbling here)!    LoL

[Del the cat]

Yo Heffalump,
If you look at the rule alongside the pics, you will see the rings at approximately 1mm spacing in the heart wood. This would be about 25 to the inch which isn't particularly dense.
There are sections of sapwood where they are much tighter... maybe 2 rings per mm.
I still think the High altitude Chinese is hard to beat. Cut from above 10' if possible
Del

[ceolith]

@Heffalump

To have a quickly bow, you need drawweight with less physical weight. Less physical weight in dependent on drawweight ---> more effectiveness. 

There are 20rings in the sapwood, so you can see that the yew transform the sap- to corewood after 20 years. That's a hint to have a swisse/italian or austrian yew from the alps. But in this case, it's a really rare german yew from the german blackforest.

@Del

After building some yewbows (...nearly 500...) i can say, that the ringcount is not really a hint for superb yew-wood. You can have 25rpi with enormous power and +85rpi like a garden hose.

You have to know, on which ground the tree is grown... 

[Del the cat]

@Del

After building some yewbows (...nearly 500...) i can say, that the ringcount is not really a hint for superb yew-wood. You can have 25rpi with enormous power and +85rpi like a garden hose.

You have to know, on which ground the tree is grown... 

Yes, I agree, that's what I was implying...
There are just some people in the UK who insist High Altitude Italian Yew is best and I've been arguing against that for years.
The "High altitude Chinese Yew" is my joke...I cut a bit that was growing behind a Chinese restaurant and I had to climb up about 10 feet onto a flat roof to get it It made a nice 130# bow.
Del

[yew hunter]

Is it possible to know if a yew stave is going to make a garden hose, or a good bow if you disregard the rpi and dont know the ground it was grown in? Are there any other signs?

[Del the cat]

Is it possible to know if a yew stave is going to make a garden hose, or a good bow if you disregard the rpi and dont know the ground it was grown in? Are there any other signs?

No and no.
Colour, rpi,density, the ground it was grown in, the phase of the moon, the colour of your underpants etc are IMO not reliable indicators.
Del

[ceolith]

I would say: yes and no

You can smell (no joke) if the yew was growing on sour or alkaline ground. Alkaline give you the chance for a hard, fast and tough wood. Most with less physical weight.
The sour one is softer, more flexible and clearly less drawweight with the same bow-dimensions.

The other thing is the gender from the yew...

To have a chance for a outstanding yew you should keep a eye on:

Fakt:

- alkaline (smells like sand if you rasp or saw them, not clearly sour)
- female (red berries)
- a ringcount over 25rpi
- more salmon corewood then brownish
- straight

If you do that, then the chance to pick a real good stave will increase enormous. 


The rest is hokus-pokus and you have to be a skilled bowyer. 

[yew hunter]

Thanks. I have noted alot of difference in yew from tree to tree, I will now be taking note of the smell.

[DC]

Yew Hunter   You're going to have a tough time finding alkaline soils around here

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