Author Topic: yew longbow (added a video shooting her in) (Read 7985 times)

Gaur · « **on:** May 11, 2011, 02:07:18 pm »

Hi everyone,

I've been working on this yew longbow. First time working with yew and I am nearing completion and thought I'd ask for some final tillering help from you experienced yew bowyers.

First I'll bring you up to speed on the project.

This was a billet set I picked up dirt cheap on the big auction site. It had cracks in the sap wood. I got them for $24. I thought it would be a good first attempt for me and if they were real bad I was going to take them down to the heart wood and sinew back it.

Well one of the billets was worse off but I was still able to get quite a few of the checks out by working it down to 1/4" sapwood. That billet also had a little grey water damage so in the end I decided to buy some silk that is sap wood color and added it as insurance with TB III. I live in Thailand so I got to look for silk on a huge wall of rolls and got the thickest 3 ply they had. $10 for a 1/2 meter.

on the bow

putting together the take down sleeves. I have these made by a local machine shop for me.

albino water buffalo overlays to protect the backing into the sleeves

I liked the reflex it had naturally after putting it together. It turns out the billets were a stave that cut in half for some reason. I could match up the grains.

I've had a little problems with string alignment on the upper limb. This was just after I first got the short string on her.

I've adjusted it quite a bit since this but it still rides to the left near the handle and in the upper limb a bit. Seems all the problems come from the upper limb. Feels alright now when I hold it and draw it. so I'm hoping it will be alright this way.

Where I am at with about 22" draw and about 60#.

lost the reflex but still hasn't taken too much set past flat. This was just a few minutes after un stringing her. see the gecko trying to hide?

Thanks for any input on the final tillering or other comments. Bottom limb (left in pic) is actually 1/2 longer and the bow is 70 ntn. I had a twist in the upper limb near the tip and cut off an inch below the horn nock and re did it last night. Need to redo it one more time as I tried to reuse the horn and didn't get all the old yew out and when I went to file and shape it more I hit old yew wood. I have a pile of white albino water buffalo horns so that's not a big deal. I had just roughed them out anyway. These ones were cow horn but I'll redo them to match the albino water buff overlays. I put those in my take downs now to protect the backing better where they enter the sleeves and like that. Had a bamboo backed osage blow on me at full draw from a failure there.

Anyway am I doing well here or where should adjustments be made?

Thanks all. Its been a fun project so far. Look forward to shooter her.

have a good day

Hrothgar · « **Reply #1 on:** May 11, 2011, 02:52:05 pm »

Its looking good. If you have the string alignment straigthened out after shortening the upper limb, why not flip it and reverse the limbs? Just a thought.

bubby · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2011, 05:40:38 pm »

look's good to me, i'd go shoot the crap out of it

Gaur · « **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2011, 10:15:53 pm »

Hrothgar, Thanks for the reply. I was going to try flipping it but I don't have the string alignment worked out well enough. I've tried it both ways and it likes to be the way I had it.

Thanks bubby

ErictheViking · « **Reply #4 on:** May 12, 2011, 03:17:43 am »

Gotta love yew. good job so far, and the gecko is just trying to sell you insurance.

Pappy · « **Reply #5 on:** May 12, 2011, 07:05:15 am »

That's looking good,how much more draw are you going for and what weight. That's what I like about building wood bows,you seem to have to solve one problem after another.

and that's how you learn.

Nice work.
Pappy

Gaur · « **Reply #6 on:** May 12, 2011, 10:01:27 am »

Thanks Eric and Pappy.

Did some more work today. I draw close to 29" so that is what I am looking for. Don't think I'm there yet. Still too much bow for me but I thought I would try shooting her a little like this.

I printed out a picture and folded it in half and held it up to the light and the limbs match up well. The string angle is different. Not sure that's a issue?

A D 97 string with some otter fur to quiet things down. I need to learn to do the Flemish twist. This is an endless loop and it doesn't go so nice looking with the English longbow.

First few arrows. Real close range but I was still happy to see them group up. The bow is quiet and feels good in the hand. The sleeve flexes in my hand during draw a bit and that spooks me a little.

Pappy · « **Reply #7 on:** May 12, 2011, 10:21:02 am »

That's looking very good to me.

Pappy

Gaur · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2011, 10:25:23 am »

Thanks Pappy. I'm happy with it so far. Got to get to the range and give it a good shooting in. The top of Chiang Mai police lives behind my house so that has put a damper on my backyard shooting.

Del the cat · « **Reply #9 on:** May 12, 2011, 10:31:19 am »

I think you've done a brilliant job, that sapwood looks awful in the first pic.
I think you'll get back to your 29" with no problem.
If you've got any minor string alignment probs, a bit of dry heat (220 degrees on the belly) will let you straighten it out.
I've had a few staves that needed a lot of heat straightening, I've been prottecting the sapwood with a few layers of masking tape and duct tape and rubbing the belly with beeswax, I've found that I don't need to overbend at all doing it like that, to get 1/2" bend I've just been clamping it up with 1/2", I've been using aluminium foil to keep the heat in and a digital heatgun to set the temperature... very good for fine adustments without scorching the Yew.
Del

Gaur · « **Reply #10 on:** May 12, 2011, 11:02:26 am »

Thanks Del. Appreciate the tips on straightening too.

rossfactor · « **Reply #11 on:** May 12, 2011, 01:33:39 pm »

Thats a very graceful tiller. I really like it.

Gabe

Gaur · « **Reply #12 on:** May 12, 2011, 03:43:38 pm »

just got back from shooting the bow at the range a bit. Still not getting my full draw but trying the bow out at a heavier poundage for fun.

Here are two cool pictures I pulled off my mino video camera

I like this one esp as you can see where the limb is moving in the release.

It's showing a little more set when un stringing her after shooting about 100 arrows. We'll see if it stays of if the wood comes back to flat

billy bowmaker · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2011, 04:02:54 pm »

great pics

Gaur · « **Reply #14 on:** May 12, 2011, 04:03:40 pm »

A little shooting video I did. The metal sleeve makes a loud click on the first and second arrows and you can see me studded in my draw esp the first arrow.

Primitive Archer