What shall I do with this tiny yew stave?

[jameswoodmot]

So I’ve got this little cutie that was a side shoot on a large piece I took down. Not quite sure what to do with it.

It’s 56” long, the heart wood is 1 1/2” wide at the base and 1” wide at the top, that’s in the centre of the wood.

Questions are;

I think I should probably sinew it, am I making life hard for myself with such a narrow stave, should I find a bigger piece for my first sinew bow?
If I sinew,  I’ve seen modoc type bows with a bit of sapwood left at the widest points to make up the width, should I treat this piece of timber as a narrower version of the same thing?

Otherwise, what would you do with it? It’s such a clean piece of wood with tight rings but it’s just so dinky The only other option I thought of was just a small bith bow with relatively
square section and flipped tips. I’m not a huge fan of short draw bows so it would be good to get my 26” draw from it whay ever I do but not the end of the world if not.

I counted 27 rings in the heartwood for what it’s worth.

[bjrogg]

You might want to wait for better advice about yew than I have. Never had a piece to work with.

I do have a bow from DVs that is almost an English war bow shape and profile, but shorter and around 45 lbs. it’s pretty narrow

I was impressed by how little wood it was and how light in the hand it was.

How’s the back? Is it all sapwood?

I seem to remember hearing it doesn’t take much heart wood

Hope you get something

Bjrogg

[Del the cat]

Plenty of wood there for a nice primitive. 
You don't say how thick it is at the centre? May need to build it up at the grip.
Del

[jameswoodmot]

Del It’s 1 1/4” wide heartwood in the centre and 3/4” thick and that’s including all the sap wood What do you think about the cross section, I’m having a hard time getting out of the “maximise width” mindset.

Bjrogg- yeah it’s clean sapwood all up the back. Sap wood is a bit thick.

Here’s a picture of the ends to give you an idea what I’ve got

[superdav95]

I agree there’s a bow in there for sure.  Ring count isnt terrible.  I did one similar but it was 60”. It’s still one of my fastest bows.  I sinewed my and did a semi hollow limb design to somewhat match the heavy crown my stave had.  Worked out quite well and was about similar dimensions as yours here.  I’ll see if I can did up some pics and post here.  Couldn’t get the pics over but here is the link.  It shows two yew bows sinewed.  The one I’m referring to that’s similar to your stave is the one with sapwood retained smaller stave. Not the heartwood belly drop bow. 

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,72630.msg1019583.html#msg1019583

[Del the cat]

That looks to be thick enough.
My fave style is a willow leaf shaped limb narrow grip.
You may need to de-crown it if the sapwood is thick, but you can maintain maximum with by allowing the sapwood to wrap around onto the belly, so the belly has a strip of heartwood along the centre and sapwood either side of that, it looks really cool. It doesn't need much heartwood to give it some poke. You could go for an ELB style but that would be more stress on a short bow.
Alternatively you could splice on some short levers onto each end (maybe 3" of lever plus 2" of V splice) that would give you some extra length and look cool 
Del
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2014/08/monkey-bow-lives-again.html
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2014/08/monkey-bow-lever-detail.html

[jameswoodmot]

Fantastic Dave thats a great thread for me to read through, just got to page four this morning. I find the search function only really brings me stuff up from the mid 2000's so i woud have missed that if you hadnt linked it.

Yeah I did consider a tiny ELB Del but then I remebered I hate them  Nice, looking at Dave's bow i think the lower limb will be ok in width but the upper will get a whisp of sapwood on the edges. The question i was wondering was will the added weight of the sapwood negate the added performance of the increased width by leaving it on. (i've written that a few times now, still not sure thats the most coherent sentance) but if you say it just takes a bit of heart wood on the belly, it should end up 70-80% heartwood so should be just fine!

[jameswoodmot]

Got this little thing too! 70 something inches but even skinnier than other one!

[bjrogg]

I’m thinking Yew are all set

Bjrogg

[superdav95]

lol bj!   That little stave could possibly work for a hld bow. 

[Doug509]

Nice woood grain color.  English Yew?  My only other thought is back the first stave with bamboo after removing sapwood.  Might not work with the high crown.