A question of length

[grantmac]

What would you consider the minimum length for a warbow to be? Reason I ask is I've got my hands on some 35-40 RPI Pacific Yew but it's only 73.5" long and I'd like to do a warbow with it. If it's not going to be long enough then it's just going to end-up as a regular target weight ELB. I may be able to split off a few billets to make a warbow length (without killing this stave) but as far as I know warbows were not made with billets.
Suggestions appriciated. Either way I'm going to finish up my current Maple/ERC warbow attempt to get a better idea of the tiller I'm after.
      Thanks,
             Grant

[Yeomanbowman]

By the time you lose working limb length with the nock cones you will be under 6 foot.  I think it's pushing it a bit too much and if it did work I bet it would follow the string badly.  I assume you were thinking of a light warbow about 100 lb in weight.
Jeremy

[ThimoS]

Out of the Mary Rose finds the lengths ranged to just over 6 ft and just under 7 ft on the norm. Unless you are very carefull while reduceing the wood you can count on atleast 1/2" coming off each tip. However you can still reach pretty high poundages with that length, if the wood is dense enough.

[grantmac]

I think I will concentrate on just a target bow from this stave. I will probably be able to split off of few billets from this wood and try for longer length with those. As always, I'll let the wood descide what it wants to be. This seems to be fairly dense stuff so we'll have to see.
           Thanks,
                 Grant

[bow-toxo]

The recipe for a longbow in the MR days was twice the arrow length plus a hand width, that is about 4 inches, for a flight bow that would have a short life, and two hand widths for regular shooting. For a 31 inch arrow, nock to shoulder of head, that would need a bow of 70 inches between nocks. Of course the bow would have to be tillered to the arc of a circle and be thinner than its width. Warbows were probably a little longer. I think your stave is long enough. It would be a pity to butcher it into billets.

[grantmac]

I'm not going to turn it into billets. It's a very wide split (about 1/5th of a 10-12" log) so I was going to get a thinner target ELB from one side and then some billets from the other side because there is a large knot 1/3rd of the way up. My primary focus will be on the good split but I'll try for a piggy-back of heartwood and some billets from this piece.
     Cheers,
              Gramt

[ravenbeak]

Hi Grant,

It's neat to hear you analyzing and talking about the stave.  I've been thinking about it myself and it is actually from a different tree than I first thought.  I'm curious to see what you can do with it,  and i'll keep my eyes peeled for something longer.

I do have some other stuff but it was down for a bit and the sap wood isn't something i would use as a backing.  It would be an all heartwood bow,  and i think it's around 108 inches long. and clean.

anyhoo,  i'm excited to see what you come up with for this stave.

cheers,
Jamie

[grantmac]

Jamie!

I finally got my hands on a really good drawknife and a cabinet scraper so I think I'm going to have to start roughing out one of these days. Alas I haven't been able to get a decent heartwood piggyback out of this piece but I think I will still end-up with 2 useable staves.
There is historical evidence of all heartwood yew bows, I just can't remember the exact reference.
How is that glue-up treating you?
       Cheers,
              Grant

[ravenbeak]

Hi Grant,

Haven't had a chance to touch them yet,  as i'm out in Ontario for a wedding,  but they sure looked purdy when I left.

I've had good luck with the rasp and scraper on yew,  haven't played with a drawknife much.  I'm keeping my eyes open for some longer stuff for you warbowers,  i'd love to see some hundred plus poundages from my wood,

cheers,
Jamie