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Del's MR Copy
Del the cat:
This is made to approx dimensions of one of the shorter Mary Rose Bows. It's 90# at 28", but it's been taken to just over 29" (see the pic of it on the tiller)
74" ntn 76.5" overall.
I don't want to take it too far due to some serious knot filling work I've done on it. The Yew was cut from an English country estate by a tree surgeon November 2010.
I've been training up for about 2 weeks and can get it to full draw now, I hope to get a pic of me at full draw tomorrow
Below is the worst filled knot, a big squarish void, filled with yew dust/epoxy mix to provide a stable foundation to drill and peg with 4 pegs of Yew.
Below shows a similar knot on the other limb, these knots go from the centre of the belly out to the side, they never appeared on the back at all, lower right of the knot you can see a small pinch, this seems stable and doesn't worry me too much as it's on the belly. The great thing about this bow is the clean back, with just the one big pimple left proud, see last two pics.
The full build story is on my blog (google 'bowyers diary' to find it)
Del
davkt:
Good to hear you have managed to get a warbow out of English yew, most ELB bowyers I know say it isn't suitable.
gstoneberg:
Beautiful Del. I'm afraid either of those knots would have caused me to fold. Clearly I have lots to learn about yew. You are a master at it. Been watching carefully before attempting the nice stave I have. :)
George
Del the cat:
--- Quote from: davkt on January 21, 2012, 11:02:19 am ---Good to hear you have managed to get a warbow out of English yew, most ELB bowyers I know say it isn't suitable.
--- End quote ---
IMO, Those who say it isn't suitable have never tried it, or haven't the patience to find a good bit.
All my Yew longbows so far have been English Yew, (and there are a few on mywebsite, google 'Delsbows' to find it) although I may have a couple of Oregon billets coming my way later in the year so I'll have something for comparison.
Del
Del the cat:
--- Quote from: gstoneberg on January 21, 2012, 11:24:20 am ---Beautiful Del. I'm afraid either of those knots would have caused me to fold. Clearly I have lots to learn about yew. You are a master at it. Been watching carefully before attempting the nice stave I have. :)
George
--- End quote ---
Cheers George, I must admit that it's ability to withstand some pretty awful knots does amaze me. I think if you treat it with care and respect it will be very forgiving.
I've learned to excavate any knots with even a trace of black around them and get backdown to clean timber. In fact I recon I could probably find a new career in dentisty now! ;)
I love the pinkish red blusk around the knots, I think the knots were branches which had been cut or broken off and had then grown over. It was quite a mystery at first as I could only see the clean circular bit of the knot on the belly. The rot was only exposed as I reduced the width.
Here's the pretty? side of the bow. It shows the two big knots and the slight set (it had a tad of deflex on the original stave)
There's a row of pin knots right on the edge of that lower limb too, look a bit like a row of stitches. Always tricky deciding, do I work down that edge a tad and loose 'em or leave 'em be?
Del
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