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yew holmegaard--full draw pics--tru-oil finish

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radius:
My first attempt at a yew holmie failed miserably due to a mistake at the bandsaw.  This time it's all hand tools.

The stave i chose has 3 big knots in it, i mean huge.  I drew the outline a couple days ago (massively over-sized) and used a pullsaw, mallet, and chisel to cut to the line.  The dark line down the center is the pith, and i laid out the bow from that.  The outline is approx. 2" wide through the bending limb.  But since yew can handle warbow caliber draw weights at just 1.5" wide (and after getting the look from ravenbeak!), i made the outline 1.5" wide, and am planning on 60# (the stave is 62" long) which i think will be easily attainable.








That was all i had time for that day.

Yesterday after work I got out the drawknife and taught myself how to use it.  In keeping with what i think is tradition, i stepped down the sapwood along the back EXCEPT at the handle.  On each limb, i chased rings and although each limb follows a different growth ring, yet they are both pretty complete.  Damn hard to get just one, though!

Hopefully these pics turn out.  I was trying to show how the sapwood steps down from the handle and from the knots...This is going to leave me with a handle which is proud at the back and comfortable in the hand.














The heartwood ring i found for each limb is not the same ring:  they are different colours.  But i think it'll be okay.  I just about have the back established (if not tidied up!), and tonight after work i'll set a centerline and reduce the width of this thing...hopefully i can almost entirely eliminate one of the knots (a big one near the handle) and significantly reducethe others...

radius:
don't mind the mess

 ::)

radius:
This is more of a "help-along" than a buildalong...cuz i need help!

Guys, you see i have 3 major knots in this stave, one just out of the handle (so it'll be in the bow); one in the first third of one of the non-bending tips; and one right in the transition area from bending limb to tip. 



In this one, you can really see how the handle will be raised in comparison to the back of the bow.  And you can see the damn knot.



This one is right in the transition area, where it gets narrower AND thicker!  oh boy...






So...how do i handle these?  Can i just rasp through the knot (to save the blade of my drawknife)?  The outer section knots won't actually bend. 

I can't wait to see how this turns out.  It's cool how the heartwood is a different colour at each limb...it looks like i scraped down quite a bit more on the one limb...but it was also thinner (at the belly) to begin with.

radius

radius:
okay,

so last night i reduced the stave to "final" width, with my drawknife, and handled some of the knots in a pretty aggressive manner:  saw and chisel.  I looked at Pat B's warbow and saw the giant knots in that, and it gave me courage.


Also, i realized that i was still in sapwood on one limb, it's just that it was a darker colour than the rest of the sapwood.  So i chased it down some more.  I tried to get just one ring, but i think the back's been violated more times than a southern belle with too many male relatives.   >:D





This picture shows the stave's twist.






Overall, i LOVE working with this wood!  I find that the admonition to leave extra wood at the knots is almost unnecessary, because it's impossible not to!  The grain changes direction around a knot, so you are forced to turn the knife and come from the other side.  The effect is a natural little mound of raised wood.

So, I just traded a stave for a dozen handmade arrows, painted and nocked...i think it's a good trade.

I'm looking forward to shooting this bow.

No way  i'll be able to recurve this one:  too much going on at the tips already.  But i've drawn the approximate shape of the tips on the sides now...





Slightly different from each other, due to the placement of the knots, but still similar and i think they will look cool.


more to come

radius:
What a week!  The obsession is back in force!

Tonight after work i tackled the big knots for serious this time.  So far i've just been pecking at them...but they gotta go, so tonight i sawed them off with a pull saw, then hit the tips (all i got done, really) with the gooseneck scraper, a bowyer's best friend.  I cleaned up the tips so i'm pretty happy with them, other than their bulk. 

Here's a few pics.









Here is the other tip. 






It's starting to come together...i dunno though, these tips are gonna be pretty heavy...maybe i should go for 65 or 70# just to make up for it.

tomorrow i'll clean up the last knots and then do some work around the handle before flattening out the belly at 1/2 " thick.

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