New game, new chance, new problem...[NEW PROBLEM + 1]

[simk]

Ok, roughed out a new stave - found a big knot/branch 6" after the fadeout - it's still 1 6/8" wide at this point.

Will there be a bow or should i rather burn this piece of wood and grill a sausage with it?

Edit: How much sapwood do i need above the branch on the back to make a safe bow? Do i have to remove/extract this branch? How to deal with that spot?

What would you do?

Cheers

[Pat B]

Unfortunately with that branch running through the stave it think it will cause problems. Instead of making firewood cut the stave at the knot and save the long half for a billet to be spliced to another piece.
 As far as cooking with yew I would suggest you not do it. Yew is toxic and could poison you.

[bradsmith2010]

yes we want to avoid any bow relatated illness,,    hickory is a better cooking wood and not as expensive,,

[simk]

Thanx for fast advice.
Grabbed another one 
After three broken bows in a row my stats are in the basement so I cannot risk anything!
Cherrs

[DC]

Next time allow a little more wood in width when you are rough sawing. Even if the knot had been smaller you really didn't leave any extra width. The sapwood looked fine on that one, I wouldn't have touched the back. Save the good half for a billet.

[simk]

Is this stave maybe the second billet?
How can I cut an accurate splice? never done...do you cut free hands DC or do you have a special device? do you steam the splice for better fitting?
Cheers

[DC]

I use a band saw. Draw the splice on the back and then free hand it. The cut down the center is the most important, it must be straight. The other two can be finessed a bit. I boil and clamp them if I'm not happy with the fit. Yew works really well for boiling and clamping because it's soft enough to crush together nicely.

Where would that knot be in the bow? If that's in the handle or thick fade area it might work but if it's out in the limb by the time you tillered it a bit you would have a knot right across the belly, not good.

[simk]

So,

since I was here last time, you did lot's a work - congrats and thanx for presenting those fantastic bows, DC, Weylin, bushboy, TorstenT @ all the others...

Now I have some new staves in the works and a new question:

The stave below should become a recurved flatbow, Weylin-style, without triangels (-;

Now the width is about 1 6/8 and thickness is about 7/8 and there still is almost no bend - I assume, that in the end thickness will be max. 5/8.
As I have relativly thick sapwood - about 3/8 (9-10mm metric) - there won't last too much corewood in the end. I therefore was thinking about reducing some sapwood and take down some rings.

Do I have have to reduce the sapwood? Would you?

Could I also decrown the stave? Is this an good idea with yew? Has anyone decrowned a yew stave sucessfully? My idea about decrowning is, that with a flatter back I could take full/better advantage from the flatbow design....(surplus I could avoid the pain of following a ring  )
Thoughts?

Cheers

[By the way: The knot on the last last picture has already fallen away with reducing, the picture is from an earlier stadium - so don't care about this...]

[Del the cat]

Nature has provided sufficient sapwood above that knot.
As it's on the side it's not too much of a problem. The important thing is to remove any unsound material that is round it, pick it out, drill it out, whatever, it's the black manky stuff or any dead wood that will just compress and cause a pinch.
Leave a bit of extra width there, but don't go mad adding extra thickness on the belly too.
Here's a similar one, that required an extreme amount of filling:-
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/01/mystery-knot.html
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2012/01/filled-knot.html

Ah, I see I'm answering a problem that has been solved... 
On to the next question.
Yes reduce the sapwood, I generally like to have at least 50% heartwood.
Del

[simk]

Thanx a lot Del, you are confirming my worries....
What do you think about my decrowning reflections?
cheers

[Del the cat]

I've made primitive Yew bows with a little decrowning, but you want to keep some sapwood right across the back, ideally follow a ring, but you can compromise.
Here's a pic of the back of my go to field bow "twister" (1 5/8" wide ) you can see I've decrowned it a little, but haven't gone through to heart wood.
Del

[simk]

Thanx again Del, I will follow your expertise and for sure I will supervise the thickness of lasting sapwood by continous measuring the amount of decrowning. have a lot of work to do...better start right now...first measure and note thickness all over the stave... cheers

[Springbuck]

  I am not very experienced with yew, but if the bending limbs have enough heartwood thickness on the belly, maybe the tips won't need much.  If it is recurved and maybe treated with heat to hold the static recurve, as long as it is stiff enough, does it need the compression strength of the heartwood there?

Just something to think about...

[DC]

Most of my yew bows are about 7/16-1/2" thick (10-12 mm) for the last 7-8-9".  Those are guesstimates. They are all about 40#. If you're in that range you won't have much(if any) heartwood left without reducing the sapwood.

[simk]

thanx for your opinions...already 3 rings (and only 1mm) decrowned, ring by ring, couldn't wait 
almost completly flattend there will be enough (5mm) of sapwood. lets see. cheers

springbuck: if i did not reduce i would end with 2 or maybe 4mm of heartwood, of what i had a bad feeling and it also didnt look too nice, imho