What help does this yew ELB need? She Just Blew Up!

[David Long]

This bow will hopefully be a holiday gift for my lovely wife. It's made from a yew sapling I harvested locally, 64 inches NTN, 1 3/8 inches wide. You can see from the unstrung profile the left limb is naturally reflexed while the right has deflex. I wanted to keep it this way (no heat bending) on account of the wife's preference for wild and wooly. Likewise, the back of the bow is the sapling's outer surface-no taming there. You can see the waves, knots, and scars that came with the wood. She digs these character bows but I have been reluctant to give her one because I'd hate to mess her mug up with flying shards of yew wood. But this one is up to the task I think (hope). Tillering this piece of wood was not so easy for moi. Any suggestions based on what you see here? The bow is heavy (25 ounces) but I am afraid that comes with the character and I don't intend to push mass much more. The bow draws 50 lbs at 26 inches, perfect for the wife (she's burley too). I have several hundred arrows through it and for whatever reason, this thing is pretty darn accurate in my hands as compared to my other bows. At 50 lbs, can I leave the yew nocks naked if I use typical Dacron strings or do I need overlays? Any suggestions welcome. Dave

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[YewArcher]

wow....that is really a great looking bow. I would not mess with tillering anymore. Charecter staves quikley get ruined when to much is asked of them. You will never get a photo perfect tiller out of the bottom limb,,,,but it looks fine anyways.

I have left several yew bows with selfnocks with not bad affects. I was even shooting a 90# war bow with self nocks for several months and it was fine. It will at first look like the wood is getting really chewed up but as the sape wood compresess a bit it wil just settle in and stop maring the wood. It works just fine.

That is a really great bow. Nice job.

Steve

[Pat B]

Dave, looks good to me also. Nice bow. Time to finish it and pass it on!     Pat

[bcbull]

 REAL NICE DAVE  YOU SHOULD BE FINE WITH SELF NOCKS AND B 50  HOWEVER  IF  UR RELLEY WORRIED ABOUT MESSIN THE WIFE S MUG  UP  STICK A RAWHIDE BACK ON IT FOR SAFTEY HAHA BUT I RELLEY LIKE IT    BROCK

[adb]

Wow! You've done an awesome job tillering that character stave. Your wife is lucky (and so are you to have her shoot with you). Although self nocks are OK with yew, I think any bow looks better with nock overlays, and with yew, they are functional.

[Gordon]

The tiller looks right on to me. The character makes for a very cool looking bow. I bet your wife is going to love it.

[JW_Halverson]

Any woman that sees the beauty in a character bow is a trophy indeed.  Congratulations on a good partnership and a fine bow!

By the way, if she doesn't like this bow then send me a p.m. and I'll gladly send you the postage and shipping materials along with my address!!!

[Bowbound]

A very nice character bow. The yew looks very good quality

[armymedic.2]

one day, i will have a bow that cool, until then, do you mind if i just slober on my keyboard looking at yours?  wow!

[OldBow]

I put a satin varathane finish on my yew bows. Really brings the color up. Otherwise, but don't mess with the perfect tiller.
I bookmarked your bow for BOM but will check back to see if you update it.

[David Long]

Thanks for the input guys. I am going to finish 'er up with an elk rawhide handle and probably varathane as Oldbow suggests. Limey-Josh, as far as the quality of the wood goes, I have not used yew from other areas, but this piece is greater than 80 rings per inch. To count them you need a magnifying glass. This sapling was greater than 100 years old. That's pretty sobering actually. Cutting such a critter down then screwing it up is something I'd rather avoid. I am extremely lucky to live within the native range of the Pacific yew tree. Dave

[George Tsoukalas]

That is really a great bow! Well done. Jawge

[Keenan]

 Very nice charactor bow David, I think she looks really nice the way it is. like said just do the grip and  leave the rest to admire

[David Long]

Kablam! The reflexed limb busted at full draw after shooting maybe three or four hundred arrows. No warning, no developing set or reduction in draw weight obvious. An autopsy reveals a thin, punky dark layer between the sap wood and the heart wood. It was basically a delamination. Oh well, I've got some time to try again.

[adb]

Bummer!! Can you send a pic?