Yew belly grain

[bradsmith2010]

U can do it,,,,

[simk]

Sad story - I think it could be saved by Del's or PatM's way. Del's way sure is less work; if you rasp/sand out a scoop long enough its not a big deal and easy to just glue in a thin laminate (max 1/8") with enough pressure - no need to create a precise counterpart. Just put a clamp and epoxy, then cut/sand the excessive wood. The draw weight is low so the patch will hold together.

Imho its the sap creating that hinge; regarding the width of the bow its more than 10%sapwood that doesen't take pressure and maybe even the first heartwood rings next to the sap isnt full developed regarding compression ability...

I did messie yew bellies now more than once and have never had any issues - this bow pulls 60#

Good luck!

[DC]

I got it to 40#@28" but it looks like this. I thought I would chrono it so at 10gpp I was getting 182 so I lightened the tips and got 185. It's getting a bad launch because there is no arrow pass(shot a hole in the garage door ) so that and I can narrow the tips a bit more. But it would still have the ugly tiller. If I got the inners working better(some) and it dropped to 35# do you think it may shoot a 350grain arrow better than 185? I'm still planning a re belly but in the meantime I'm having fun with this. Haven't had fun tillering for a while. Second picture is with one layer mirror imaged so you can compare limbs.

[bradsmith2010]

Stop,...u are good,,.its beautiful

[DC]

Ya think? Here's another overlay. This is unbraced over full draw. It doesn't look like the inner limbs are doing much.
PS Well the first few inches anyway

[bradsmith2010]

yes they are doing 185fps,,
someone told me the other day,, I had never heard it,,
you stop tightening a bolt 1/4 turn before you strip the threads,, wow thats universal,,,
you are 1/4 turn before stripping the threads,, I think,,,,

ok now,, if you want more speed,, seems like increase the draw one inch,, would take less work than re tillering to 35,,,
if it does not take set it should shoot a bit faster 10 gpp,, at the increased draw and weight,, but I think you wil be 1/8 turn from stripping the threads,,,,

[DC]

I took your advise after a couple more scrapes, I just couldn't leave it like that. Then I rounded off a couple of corners, arrow pass that stuff then chronoed it again and it's 181. It lost a few pounds in the finishing. I haven't looked at the weight. I can't have the shooting machine and the tree set up at the same time. It was to the point where I thought it was better to finish this one and start another rather than re belly this one although I will end up with two bows rather than one and I'm running out of room to hang them. It's about 20 fps shy of my target but i think I learned a few things. I'll check the weight in a bit and then chrono it with a true 10gpp.

[DC]

It is 39#@28" and a 392 grain arrow hit 187 three times in four shots. The odd one was 185. I'm happy. I tried a 305gr arrow for the halibut and got 204fps. Considering the hoops this one made me jump through I think it turned out well.

[bradsmith2010]

Great

[DC]

First time I've ever lifted a splinter on the belly. OK for a rousing chorus of "I told you so". It's only been shot maybe ten times. No dry fire. I never noticed it until I sanded the belly this morning. Put a drop of CA on it and it travelled about 1/2" to the right so it's a substantial splinter. I'll probably go with plan"B", new belly. Oh well, at least it didn't happen after I put the finish on. Ignore the stain above it, that's just sloppiness on my part.

[PatM]

Plate tectonics essentially.  Some woods handle this really well, others not so much.

[DC]

Good description Pat. Here's a picture we've all heard about. The old split a bow to see where the set takes place. It's actually not as bad as I was expecting. And there's no kink where the bad spot is.

[DC]

U can do it,,,,

Uh, no I can't

[bradsmith2010]

well at least you know what kind of performance to expect with a good piece of wood on the belly,,
I think if you had taken my advice and pulled it to 29,, it would have been a bit exciting, and more than a splinter,,

[DC]

I ground the belly down right to the bamboo from about 10" from centre to the tips and glued on a new 3/8" belly(two pieces) heat treated both sides. It started with 5 3/8" reflex. The tillering was going well until I was just about to brace it. It was 40#@ 17". One last pull on the long string and this time it went 18,19,20 and wouldn't get to 40#. It was collapsing in about the same spot as before. No grain malfunction this time. Since it's in roughly the same spot my first idea was that the bamboo was failing but that doesn't make sense to me. It would splinter or something. To do what it's doing the boo would have to stretch. In that area of the bow the Yew has been tillered down to just over 1/4" thick but it's even. The other limb is the same. No sign of chrysals. Having taken 1/8" off the belly it makes me wonder if I went through the heat treat. All that's left is that I've just exceeded the woods limitations or I've exceeded my talent limitations