Osage vs Yew

[Badger]

   I set out to build two bows for the up comming flight shoots. This particular bow will be for the unlimited broadhead class. I have an osage stave and a yew stave. I figured I would build them together step by step and see how they would go through their paces side by side.
  The osage started off about dead even with no reflex or deflex, nice flat clean back and plenty of width to work with.
   The yew was nice and dense but had 1 very large knot in the main working area of the limb and a medium size knot in the lower stiffer portion of the limb.
     The original plan was to rough them out and then go for about 80#@28" allowing about 28 oz of mass for each bow.
Normaly with yew I reduce the mass about 10# but because of the knots I figured I would leave it. This is how they looked once I roughed them out

[Badger]

     At this point the osage stave was around 40 oz and the yew stave around 33 oz.  I didn't want the osage too narrow so decided to give them slightly different designs but still stick with the draw weight. I gave the osage an extra long handle and fade area, close to 14" and I induced about 3 1/2 reflex. This raised up the projected mass to around 31 oz.
     The yew bow had a natural deflex of about 1 1/2" so I decided to tiller it out a bit before I made any decisions about reflexing. I tillered it out to about 80# at 26" I think and it only took an additional 1/2" of set. At this point I decided to only slightly reflex the outer limbs maybe 1". I was surprised at how much tillering I had to do after reflexing to get the bow back to 80#@26" it picked up a lot of weight. I lost most of the 1" reflex I added but it is still sitting slightly on the positive side with no deflex. I only heated the outer 1/2 of the limb so will likely go back tomorrow and put about 1 more inch in using the inner limb. The outer limbs will work slightly after I finish narrowing them down
 

[Badger]

      The osage bow I did only floor tillering on before heat treating and reflexing. I was very pleased at how well it held the 3 1/2" of induced reflex. I have her pulled out to about 87# @ 28" and imediately after unstringing she has 2 1/4" which quicly goes back to about 2 3/4. All I need to do on her now is sand, finish, narrow the tips and fix the arrow pass. I will post that once done along with a full draw.
      The yew bow I am really afraid to pull back past 26", I just have a bad feeling. I may slightly lower the weight so she maxes out at 78#@28". I would feel better.
      Presently they are measuring out almost identical in a power curve with a very slight edge going to the osage bow. The yew bow has a lower mass advantage so hard to tell which bow will win the spot after I test them on the chrono.

[mikekeswick]

Very interesting experiment. I look forward to the final results!

[soy]

Love the head to head competition ...interested to see the crono results as well as distance

[Del the cat]

A thousand Quatloos on the Yew!
Del

[randman]

Lovin this so far. How long are these bows?
I'm with Del, gotta bet on the yew being from yew country and all.

[Pappy]

Looking good Steve,looking forward to the results ,80lbs,man you are stouter than you look. 
   Pappy

[George Tsoukalas]

Great experiment, Steve. Excellent bows.  Jawge

[lesken2011]

Neat little competition you got goin there. Can't wait to see the results!

[Badger]

  Pappy, I can't pull 80#, I have a shooter.

[Badger]

  Randy both bows are 68", one is 67 1/2 but I can't remember which one.

[gstoneberg]

Neat little competition you got goin there. Can't wait to see the results!

Me too.

George

[MWirwicki]

"The yew bow I am really afraid to pull back past 26", I just have a bad feeling."

I think its kinda cool how with all of our science and technology; formulas and physics words like "feeling" and "instinct" still play an important role in this primitive endeavor. 

Great experiment Steve, we can't wait to hear the results!  (I'm pulling for the osage but the lower mass of the yew may give it the edge). 

[Badger]

    I am kind of feeling like that yew bow would be very fast. Sometimes I talk about bows with what I refer to as hard deflex. Meaning the bow has deflex but still very high early draw weight. Thats how this piece of yew was and that has always been a good sign. I am really leery of pulling that yew any further than 26", just a bad feeling. I think this morning I will drop the weight a tad before I pull it any further. The osage bow I wouldn't hesitate to pull it back to 30".