Heck if I know- My first with yew.

[George Tsoukalas]

Where is that crack? Do superglue it. Jawge

[Mar]

Yeah I might have cranked her too much, heck if I know what I'm doing yet and yes I will read some more.
I wonder if this piece had too much rot setting in at first?
So before I tiller it more, Should I heat gun it first? The crack is superglued and that crack is on the right limb or across from my file in the last picture.
Bow is 66" ntn and handle has been rasped down but will get rasp somemore.
Been searching for that heatgun holder but can't seem to find it. Do I make it so the gun is 4''away or is it 6"?
By reflex raduis, guess I would need to make a form and slowly apply heat and clamp it down as I go?

Thanks for the help guys, I got kind of discourage there for a sec but if there's a chance I still can pull it off...that would be awesome.

[radius]

4" is the general rule...but if ur heat gun sucks, get closer, if it's mega, go farther.

and yeah by reflex i mean heat it backwards over a curving form.  careful not to heat where you glued though...that might be a problem

[Mar]

Well got my book today, looks very interesting with full of knowledge. sad thing is I haven't done anything lately cause a friend passed away and helping out so everything has been at a stand still for now.
I will try re-flexing the bow with heat and will try to save it. I've learned a lot through here and killing it already and so I am not done with it yet.

I'll be back with more in a few days.

[Mar]

Appears I ordered vol 4 which is good as it talks about heat treatment. I just ordered vol 1 like I thought I did. Oh well hear vol 1 and 4 are the ones to get anyway. 

[Mar]

Well it's broken, back to the drawing board.

[radius]

hey, let's see


we want to look at the pieces and "talk about what happened"

i d k bro...we might need some sinew

[Mar]

before


Broke roughly 8" from center after more tillering and heating, checking weight pulled roughly 24-26". Had it at about 40#.

Back

Side

Belly

[radius]

looks awful, that sucks!

ok then:  let's talk method:

did you heat treat and then tiller right away?  Could've just been too dry there. 

Challenging wood, yew.  But you've got enough that you'll be telling us what to do before long.  Keep at it.

[rudderbows]

If you end up not getting the draw weight out of it you desire why not throw a hickory backing on it and maybe reflex it just tad bit to add some weight. Even a thin bamboo backing would help bring the weight up a bit.

[radius]

actually looking more closely at the pic, it looks like that spot was thinner than the wood to either side of it...a problem

[Mar]

Radius I let it cool down completely in between scrapings, Had the limbs reflex a bit. Rudderbow a little late for backing on this one but I have the sister stave of this one, same shape and will have to chase rings because of rot and will back it.

Learning and didn't expect a perfect bow the first time around. Next one I'll do with sapwood once I pick out my piece.

I just had a look at it again radius, width was about the same but thickness was slightly less.

[Mar]

After staring, turning, inspecting it with magnifying glass, talking to it and reading...I have concluded that heat was the culprit. I should have added moisture to it or let it sit outside as I believe I dried it too much.

I have started on a couple more but looks like I may have to chase rings on both as it seems it came from the same log. I should have marked them but anyway I am dealing with rot again in the sapwood. Well want to experiment some more to see if I am right about the first one, what the heck.

[adb]

I've had really bad luck with staves from standing dead, or staves from downed trees. I've found it's better to cut live trees, and take the time to season them slowly. I also cut all my trees in the winter now... sap is down. I now it's harder to remove the bark, but I prefer that to checking cracks and longer drying time. The wood is somehow not as strong from dead trees. Anytime I hear "rot in the sapwood," I shudder. JMO.

[Mar]

These trees were cut down from my understanding but they were piled up outside for 3 years. This on I'm dealing with was a pretty knotty log that has the rot, my other log seems okay. I figure if I start with the hardest pieces I should get good at it. LOL.