Confusing sideways bend

[dragonman]

those wide tips put at lot of sideways torque on the limbs !!!  if there is a slight tendency to twist anyway...might not be the whole problem , but may have added to a series of problems....it is very long and narrow...like the others said.. a long narrow limb wants to twist if there is a slight misalignment , or natural twist inherent in the wood .all of these things accumulate..then there could be unseen weaknesses in the wood etc .....some bows just blow for unknown reasons!! The wood looks very pale for yew!!, not your classic yew colour?

where did you get your stave? hope you asked permission to cut it..

[WillS]

I didn't cut it.  That's part of the problem...

It cost me a bottle of wine and a mini yew bow for the guys daughter.  Pretty fair price for 13 staves worth of logs.  He's a forestry warden and arborist so I also get whatever else he comes across, which wouldn't have happened had I stolen it

The pale colour could be the light/camera as its pretty normal looking compared to what I make most of my bows from.

[George Tsoukalas]

Got it!

Will, Jim Fetrow gifted me a beautiful yew stave years ago. Naturally, I felt some pressure to get a good bow from it.

While tillering I even used outside calipers to make sure wood removal was even across the limbs. I floor tillered, long string tillered at low brace and then strung it.

Darn if it wasn't a twisted leaner anyway. I fixed it by scraping wood from the strong side and made a nice bow.

Wood has a "mind" of its own. Even if wood removal is even it does what it wants to do.

Jawge

Jawge

[WillS]

You wrote down exactly what I was thinking George!  Very nicely put.

Perhaps it's a combination of twist and poor sapwood that's causing them to fail?  Who knows?! Next step is to try the heartwood in a laminated bow and see what happens.

[PatM]

It cost me a bottle of wine and a mini yew bow for the guys daughter.  Pretty fair price for 13 staves worth of logs. 

  Don't count your bows while they are still staves. 

[WillS]

Indeed.  Clearly this wood isn't worth much more than a bottle of wine!