Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: rossfactor on May 23, 2014, 02:28:02 am
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I've been driving over the klamath and Trinity mountains for work the last month. On my return trips I take a little time to poke around some of the thick brushy creek beds along the mountain pass. Just two days ago I found this on my way home. It was 50 ft up a nearly vertical bank (on the opposite side of the creek ::)), and I only had my little bow saw, but it was worth the climb and getting wet. I might not find another so pipe straight and free of knots ever again. High elevation yew, over 6 ft long. I plan on giving it a couple years to season, and figuring out just the right thing to do. Anyway, couldn't help but show it off. hehehe.
gabe
(http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g124/rossfactor/20140522_182027_resized_zpsfaccd021.jpg)
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Nice!
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How's the heartwood color?
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Yeah, show us the end you big tease (no using lipstick on the heartwood ::))... and don't let those nasty bugs eat it >:(
I'd be tempted to run it through the band saw to half it (lengthways... I meant lengthways :o ;) >:D )
It will speed seasoning and encourage any splits to go from the centre to the sawn face rather than from centre outwards.
Del
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Yes split and seal asap....yew can be a bugger for checking once the bark is off, especially left in the round.
Good find though!
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SWEET ! Bob
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Yes split and seal asap....yew can be a bugger for checking once the bark is off, especially left in the round.
Good find though!
Yeah, show us the end you big tease (no using lipstick on the heartwood ::))... and don't let those nasty bugs eat it >:(
I'd be tempted to run it through the band saw to half it (lengthways... I meant lengthways :o ;) >:D )
It will speed seasoning and encourage any splits to go from the centre to the sawn face rather than from centre outwards.
Del
Nice find and a thread hijack.
I have been wondering lately if there is an adverse effect from sawing rather than splitting. Its only recently I have had the use of a bandsaw and pretty much all the smaller diameter stuff I have sawn in two has checked badly on the belly despite the bark, staying on/ends sealed and our British "summer-time" humidity. Far more often than when I split.
I am thinking with splitting following the grain properly rather than forcing the issue with a saw you end up with less internal stress?
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I'm surprised you guys have had problems with Yew checking. I've dried quite a few small diameter yew logs with the bark on and ends sealed and never had one check. On the other hand I live in a really humid environment, and my staves dry really slow.
I would think ripping it in half on the bandsaw while its still green would be the best way to get it to check, at least that would definitely happen with plum... I never debark my sapling staves, or rip them green. Usually I just seal the ends and let em sit for a good while. If I wanted to work it sooner, I'd debark it, saw it and than rough it out all at once. But I'm not in a hurry (and I don't have time to get to this stave right away anyway).
Here's a pic of the end I sawed off.
(http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g124/rossfactor/20140523_064441_resized_zpse9d634f1.jpg)
You can definitely see the compression side, as well as the difference in growing years. The stave is 3.25 inches in diameter. It has about 40 rings per inch on the compression side and about 30 rings per inch on the other side. Not the tightest I've seen, but she'll make a fine bow.
Gabe
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That will make a fine bow in your hands Ross. Looks like the canopy opened up for it about halfway there. I like those wider rings with the good amount of the dark stuff.
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so how did you get the tree? did you do the clark Griswold approach ;D desperate men will do desperate things. some good looking stuff there.
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Maybe this pic will explain what I mean.
How would sir like his checks? On the back or the belly? And would you like fries with that? ::)
Cracks tend to propagate radially along the path of least resistance.
Just my opinion of course...
Del
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What Del said! He's spot on; it's my experience as well.
Whether you dry half logs or round logs, never remove the bark of a yew stave though! You can probably dry round logs of yew up to 3" in diameter without checks, as long as you dry the wood slowly. But I'd be hesitant to dry anything bigger in the round. Much safer to saw (or sometimes split) a round log in two halves. It not only decreases the risk of checks, but the wood also dries much quicker.
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What Del said! He's spot on; it's my experience as well.
Whether you dry half logs or round logs, never remove the bark of a yew stave though! You can probably dry round logs of yew up to 3" in diameter without checks, as long as you dry the wood slowly. But I'd be hesitant to dry anything bigger in the round. Much safer to saw (or sometimes split) a round log in two halves. It not only decreases the risk of checks, but the wood also dries much quicker.
I did the same recently and the yew checked like no-bodys business. Sawn down the middle and bark left on.
Once the checking in the belly started I tried to slow it down by coating the belly with PVA, made no difference. I chased past the worst parts on the belly and sealed it again, still checked. Wood was stored outside with no heating.
Some times I get away with it more so when I get it right down to bow size and remove the bark at the same time, as per Ross.
I would post pictures but dont want to see grown men cry.
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Agreed on bark. I never remove it, unless I am doing the rough it out first method. And agreed on 'cracks propagated from the exposed face' which is why I tend to avoid exposing any face at all (e.g. leaving in log form with the bark left on and the ends sealed).
Here's a thought when it comes to checking... Bow sized yew logs don't seem to have much of a 'pith.' In some woods, like fruitwoods, Oceanspray, Cascara, elderberry and others, when you're working with smaller diameter logs, the pith is a major drying factor. If you split a log (of these species), but do not remove wood down below the level of the pith, that stave will check, almost every time. And those checks are generally not the shallow, 'no-big-deal kind,' Instead they're the "I've just got some new firewood" kind.
So unless I plan on roughing the bow out right away, I dry these woods in log form with the bark on and the ends sealed. Yup it takes a bit longer, but at least I get a useable stave. If I rip it green, than I'm working to get it below the pith and at the point, why not just rough it out? And if I rough it out, I rarely get big checks. But I've got a method for that that involves plastic wrap and careful observation...
That being said, with Yew and other woods where the pith isn't a big old channel down the center of the stave, the bark on and rip it method might work fine. I'm just suspicious of it, and hate wasting good staves that I had to risk bodily harm to acquire. O:)
Gabe