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Grain orientation on stave

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willie:

--- Quote ---I may follow the shape a bit though
--- End quote ---

I am confused about the following the grain concerns. The stave looks to be sawn in the first place, and your center line just follows someone elses saw cuts?  I understand that yew can be more tolerant of runout, but it would be nice to know where the true grain runs before laying out further cuts.  Is it possible to tell this on yew from inspecting at the wood itself?

will, There is evidence of density decreases and elasticity increases as one goes higher in a tree. Keeeping the bow/tree orientation could be the primitive way to make the bottom limb stronger?

Ruddy Darter:
Hi Willie, I'll try to explain what I mean...
 
Basically when the stave was triangular I couldn't find the opening centre grain(the corner that was on the belly side was not aligned to the grain, so I was cutting in at an angle to them and just getting side lines) , got confused and skimmed down the sides etc, after I cleared it up to myself it follows the shape of how it was sawn clean.
I meant I'll be following the shape of the exposed centre line for the sides(which corresponds to sawn shape, which is now clear to me)  rather than a dead pole bow dimensions drawn within the staves shape, as you can see from the end grains they are irregular and coresponed differently in its orientation to the back as it gets deeper, so next step for me is to reduce the belly side of the limb I've just been on and find how the centre grain looks compared to the other end and centre which I've taken down to nearer thickness, I'll also hollow the belly ring/rings I chase so I can see how it's aligned with the back which is rounded, so harder to read (I don't want side lines on the belly, only arrowed feathers), put on my marks for the sides from the drawn centre line every 10cm or so and remove. I want to follow the growth character as much as I can basically,  for aesthetics if nothing else. I think the end bow would be better for it(that's if I'm successful).
Ive tried drawing on what I mean with the sketch pen but it's too difficult and looks a mess.
(The other yew stave I have has a flat back and flat bellied square cut and is pretty much pole straight, so much more straight forward, I thought I'd start with the more demanding stave first).
A pic of where I chased down a ring, the red dots and cross is where I got lost and started chasing down the side, and the red ^ is the original belly corner was, to give an idea.
 R.D.

willie:
the corner that was on the belly side was not aligned to the grain????

still a bit confused, sorry, were the staves split or sawn when you bought them?

Ruddy Darter:
It was sawn clean in a triangle. ( my other stave I mentioned is from a different tree) Don't know if it was quarter split and then sawn clean, but I reckon so. I'm probably not that good at explaining, when I try harder I get worse at it ;D.
(*just to note, all the pics on this post are of the same stave I'm working on).

Put in a nutshell, I'm aiming to be as true as I can laying out the bow with how the tree grew., following the slight snake and twist that is has.  (W.

 R.D.

willie:

--- Quote --- I'm aiming to be as true as I can laying out the bow with how the tree grew., following the slight snake and twist that is has.
--- End quote ---

I guess that what I am asking, is how can you be sure, that what it has now, is how it grew, if it was sawn?

there are ways to trace the actual grain growth on some kinds of wood, but I dunno about yew.

maybe the best is to straightline it as Del recommends. I fear that I might be encouraging overanyalsis. Maybe more yew guys can post help with how to see the run of the grain.

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