Yew - Stave and dimensions question

[Lee Slikkers]

Howdy Folks,

I'm out of the Bow Trade due to some circumstances & poor judgement calls on my part from this past Fall but that is another long and ugly tale so onto the reason for this post.

I have a real nice Yew piece (in between a sapling and tree) that is about 3"-4" in diameter.  It is 58" long and has a nice sapwood to heartwood ratio...there are a few small knots but most of them lay right at the fades so at the moment I am not too concerned.

I am not sure how narrow or thin you can go with a Yew stave so I am looking for some thoughts on what I can get away with on this build.  If I have to I can certainly add sinew to it and I have skins (either Burmese Python or Carp)

I'd like to go fairly short as I intend to use it as a bowfishing rig and/or a turkey bow...with thoughts of a ghillie suit contender for Whitetail in the Fall as well...

Thanks in advance guys.

[Weylin]

If I were you I'd follow Gordon's yew recurve build along... 

[Lee Slikkers]

I tried a search but seem to be coming up empty...do you know the link by chance?

[Keenan]

Here is that link Lee
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,30667.0.html

[Lee Slikkers]

Thanks Keenan, just found it...somehow I missed this one since it was so current but I am all eyes & ears to it now 

Also, seems this guy always thinks things are bigger, wider and longer than they actually are 

Just put a tape to my Yew stave and it is actually only 2 3/4" diameter so the crown will likely have to be very high on it...

Here are some pics:


Here you can see the diameter and the growth rings


View from the stave end down


View of the few knots that this stave has in it...

[blackhawk]

id like to offer some advice buddy,and it looks like ya have a few options there,but im afraid it would be the wrong advice. cus im a bow destroyer tonight,not a bowmaker.    

[Lee Slikkers]

Blackhawk, a one bow blow does not a disaster make!  Offer on...I could use any and all help my friend.

[blackhawk]

ok...but youve been warned...

i see a possible slight flipped tips for the last 3" of the ends,rawhide backed for hunting purposes,and make it a bend thru the handle bow.

i also see a decrowned and sinew backed D bow with 45 degree or more recurves with a snakeskin over the sinew.

or a plain bend thru the handle bow,no bells,no whistles with a more rounded belly

those are my ideas...i like the second one the best

[Weylin]

Looking at how small of a diameter that stave has I think that a recurve like Gordon's might not be a good idea. Blackhawk's ideas seem more appropriate.

[Pat B]

I'd go with BlackHawk's last suggestion not because it is the "best" but it is what I'd do. You can still add rawhide and/or skins but IMO this is the best option.
  This is a bow I built from a stave no bigger than that one you have. Don Berg(Old Bow[founder of BOM]) lives im Montana and amoung other things he is a bow builder and mountain bike rider. Don would ride his bike into the Montana wilderness and if he saw an appropriate piece of bow wood, like the rest of us he would take advantage of the situation. Don found a small yew tree that tickeled his fancy and cut it and trimmed it to a transportable size. He tied it to his bike and peddled out 8 miles. Well, Don sent this small yew trunk to me. It sat around my shop for a while before I decided to give it a shot. By now the "stave" dad long checks along its sides. I finally got a stave that I thought I could work with. Here is the results...

[Pat B]

...darn, I hit the wrong button...
  Anyway...

[Pat B]

I still have this bow. It pulls 47#@26" and it does have a little set but usually comes along as a back up bow on many hunts. The finish on this bow is only hand rubbed bear grease. Every year or so I add a bit more. I would take this bow into any weather conditions and not worry about it changing because of it.

[Keenan]

Love the tiller on that bow Pat. That one was one of my favorites that you made

[Pat B]

Mine too, Keenan. It is always at hand! 

[DarkSoul]

Lee,
Please never (I repeat: NEVER) take the bark off a round log! Round logs with the pith enclosed will rapidly crack. When the bark has been removed, those round logs lose moisture very quickly. This rapid moisture loss causes the wood to shrink, but the pith and its growth ring orientation does not allow for shrinkage. This leads to the wood cracking; often with deep cracks running beyond the sapwood.
In this case, you need to thin down the sapwood anyway, so there is no benefit of removal of the bark while it is till fresh. When did you remove the bark? If the wood is still green and you removed the bark yesterday, chances are the wood is already ruined today, if you stored the wood indoors the last day.

Myself, I never remove the bark off my fresh yew logs/staves anymore. There is no advantage in doing so, only risk for cracking.

A 58" stave is too short for my liking. I prefer longer bows, so I cannot comment of the design. But a 2¾" yew log is not too narrow at all. It will be hard to keep it wide, so a longbow makes more sense. But a bow is perfectly possible with that log diameter. But the short length is another story and may apt for a change in design...