Yew ALB

[Marc St Louis]

I had this Yew stave I got in trade about 10 years ago sitting around always getting in the way.  It must still have been a bit wet when I got it as it took on a lot of deflex to the point of it looking as if it had been braced for years.  It also had a lot of knots, some of them fairly big.  I got tired of looking at it last month so I dragged it out and decided to make myself a Yew bow, all of the Yew bows I've ever made have been for other people.  It was close to 3" in width so I did get rid of many of the knots as I laid out the profile but not all of them.  An ALB is what I wanted to make so I roughed out the profile.  Then I took out my heat-gun and started taking out the braced profile using my localized heat process.  Took awhile but I finally got it straightened out, even gave it a bit of reflex.  I wasn't expecting much from the stave but it surprised me.  The bow is 67" long with 1 1/4" wide D section limbs and is tillered out to 28" where it pulls just over 50#.  I used  what is called Tried and True Finish from Lee Valley which is Polymerized Linseed and modified Pine sap, it took forever to cure.

Here's some pics

[Ruddy Darter]

That looks very nice Mark St Louis 



Ruddy Darter

[Tree_Ninja]

Real nice. I like the ALB design. Finally one for yourself?

What was your overall opinion of the polymerized linseed? Is that different than the chemical dryers you find in the minwax linseed/tung mix? I am a lee-valley addict.....

[bradsmith2010]

that turned out great congrats,, what a nice bow,,,I love to pull one out of the past make it work,, really fun,, 

[blackhawk]

Loverly...bet its nice n sweet to pull n release

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys

It is very nice Chris. 

The bow has about 1" of set but it has a surprising amount of string tension at brace none the less.  I had taken some pictures of the stave before I started work on it but the sd card in my camera crashed so I had to format it before I got the pictures off

[JonW]

Very nice bow Marc.

[bowandarrow473]

Great looking bow.

[BowEd]

Very nice bow Marc.Like em like that.Bare bones.Sweet fun bow to shoot with for an afternoon.Good full draw picture too I might add.The one knot looks completely bored out and removed.An ALB.OK I'll bite I think I know what an ELB is[english long bow].What's the A stand for?Looks to be elliptically tillered.Forever to cure finish.Like a couple of days?

[riverrat]

nice bow, perfect tiller. Tony

[Aaron H]

Awesome bow Marc, tiller looks really good

[Badly Bent]

Excellent bow Marc, that full draw bend looks perfect.

[DC]

Very nice Marc, I've always been partial to bows that aren't "all tarted up"

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys

ALB stands for American Longbow

[BowEd]

lol.Makes sense.