Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: superdav95 on October 21, 2023, 01:04:59 am
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Hey gang. I decided to finally get around to my yew billet bow build that I’ve been putting off. These billets were quite wide and pipe straight. About 3.25” wide each and nice and tight grain on matching set. I decided to do a small narrow z splice that I believe Eric has posted on here as well as I’m sure many others. I made quick work on the delta band saw to trim down the width of my billets to about 2” wide. Squared up the bellies to sit nice and flat and match up good. I measured out my layout handle area roughly and drew the z splice on paper then cut it out and pasted it on the billet ends. Once my cuts were made I roughed up the glue surfaces a bit with a thin file and bingo almost perfect fit. The band saw really helps here for sure if it’s set up right and square. I used ea40 glue 50/50 mix. Got tight fit and squeeze out. Clamped it up and now let it cure. All went fairly well. We shall see how well it holds. Stay tuned.
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Few more…
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I’m going to be watching this one closely. I’ve got a pretty good load of Osage billets. Won’t be ready for about a year or two but I’ll be watching with interest. Nice looking splice though. I might have a few billets sitting around that are a little over a year old. So I’m definitely interested in what you do here.
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Nice job on the splice.
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Thanks guys. I kept it fairly narrow just a little over and inch wide and just under 4” long. I’ve tried this before with hand saws and although it’s doable I would not recommend it. I used a pull saw and it was a challenge to get things fitting nice with much file work after. The band saw helps a lot. Thanks for following along.
Dave
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Looking good, Dave. I'll be following and learning.
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Dropping a bland all-filler comment in order to have this pop up whenever I log in. I have some really super nice ERC billets I got in trade with BeetleBailey from about 14-15 years ago. Now that I have a bandsaw it is about time to make something happen with those billets!
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Not much to update but did file off the glue and band saw off the belly drops. They are over 36” long. I’ll save those for another project for a boo backed yew splice bow soon. Joints look good and should hold I think. Gonna remove the rest of the bark tomorrow and narrow up the limbs. I’m shooting for a 55 lbs at 28”. It will be 66” ntn. I will likley rawhide back this one as the sapwood is quite thin. I should be able to have a nice wide limbed bow and still maintain decent ratios of sap to heartwood. Thanks for looking.
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One more. Here’s the belly drops. Still lots of meat on them.
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Had some time today to shape up this bow a little more. Joint seems good and sturdy. I thinned down and narrowed it up a bit. Still not to floor tiller bending stage yet but the wood looks good and clean. Here’s hoping 🤞
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Looking good, as usual..
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That is looking good,can't wait to see how it comes out. :)
Pappy
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Looks great, Dave. Thanks for posting.
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Had a little time to get some scrapes in and see it bending a little. Still pretty heavy yet but bend so far looks good. This bow will end up with flipped tips mild recurves. Currently it’s 68 tip to tip. I’ll shorten it up after the recurves are in. There is also a mild deflex in both limbs. I’ll reflex them a tiny bit with some heat once I get to brace and then bending good to 25” or so. My goal weight for this one is 55lbs. I may have to scrape a bit the sapwood time thin it down as it’s currently little thicker then 1/8” in some spots. I’m hoping to maintain good ratios at final tiller and goal weight. I’ll be backing with rawhide later. Thanks for looking.
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Looking good, Dave. :OK
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Dave,
What tool(s) do you use to get your fades scalloped like that?
Mark
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Dave,
What tool(s) do you use to get your fades scalloped like that?
Mark
I use a Shinto rasp on the fine side initially to angle it first then move to a gooseneck scraper to get the dishes out look. Hope this helps.
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I use a Shinto rasp on the fine side initially to angle it first then move to a gooseneck scraper to get the dishes out look. Hope this helps.
What does the blade look like on the scraper? Is it rounded? All the ones I've seen are just straight across.
Mark
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I use a Shinto rasp on the fine side initially to angle it first then move to a gooseneck scraper to get the dishes out look. Hope this helps.
What does the blade look like on the scraper? Is it rounded? All the ones I've seen are just straight across.
Mark
It’s rounded on all sides. Here’s a pic of a couple of mine.
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I have those Dave but mine are rusty. I use the nose of my belt sander. Old broke down hands.
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Ya mike. I’ve done with more e too for shaping. Gotta be careful is all as 36grit removes wood fast! I find these are great for detailed work but it is hard on the hands after a while. Hand cramps!
I did some more tillering for about 40 mins and got to the short string today. Pulled to about 20” and bend is looking pretty good. I’m at about 58lbs here so I may need to narrow up the limbs a tiny bit as my ratios are where I want to keep them now. The top limb is on the left side. It’s an inch longer then the bottom limb. Asymmetric bow. I will try and recurve the tips next on Friday. Thanks for looking….
Dave
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Man your splices looks great I just did my first splice on a nice set of osage and ruined it so I cut that off and did a simple V splice and might have ruined again I got to cut 1.5 off the V and hopefully this works if not then I just ruined it. Definitely following your build
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Thanks for the comment guys! Here’s a picture of my splice layout somewhat explained. I like this kind of splice as it is much easier to get limb billets straight and lined up. The reason for this I believe is this center line that I’ve marked in red arrows. It’s nice to have this reference line match up with your center line on your limbs. Mine were in chalk line so it rubbed off a bit but still worked ok. I’ve done long v splices before with success but I still prefer this one. The width of each section on either side of that center line is 1/2”. One could add one more finger cut (w) on this splice if your wanting to splice a wider set of billets then shape them down to your handle width later. I’ve also done this too with soMe success but you can end up with more glue lines on one side over the other if alignment is off and some tweaking is needed. I find with the one I used here however you can get it straight with some reference lines. Even if I were to round off and contour the handle on this bow bare wood it wouldn’t look too bad. One could leave it that way or in my case cover up with a leather wrap. Hope this helps. Also I fine this one easier to cut with band saw fyi. Just make sure you are squared up on the belly side of your billets as best you can. I clamp mine down on flat surface and look down them to avoid getting prop twist or any misaligned limbs. Once I get them pretty good I know my cuts will be square and maintain this matched layout when splices are cut. Also use card stock instead of paper. I cheaped out here and got lazy and just used paper but it can get deformed when it gets damp with being glued on. Card stock has less tendency to do that. Hope this helps and best of luck.
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It’s rounded on all sides. Here’s a pic of a couple of mine.
Ah, furniture scrapers. That makes perfect sense for the fades. Thanks for the info, Dave.
Mark
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I had some inquiries on my steamer set up so I figured I’d show here with short video clip. It’s just a wallpaper steamer and I attached the hand wand that comes with it to the end of a 2’ section of 4” diameter abs pipe. Stuffed rags in the other end. The nice thing about this is the I can do the entire bow in this set up as I can just add coupler fittings to extend to whatever length I need. Not too concerned about a water tight fit either so I don’t even glue it together. Steam is great as it Cannot over heat your work and thouroghly heats the section you want bending. I’m sure there are better set ups out there but figured I’d show mine anyway.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gNA7cKgTHd1SXjC7A
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Here’s a quick video of my recurve jig.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iATABZeUyTbeUNnz9
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Here’s the first one out of the jig. I’ll shorten the tips up for final bow. I leave them plenty long at this stage when bending. I’ll end up cutting off around the right side of the temporary nock.
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Here’s a few pics of the recurves. Turned out pretty well. I will have to take out a little limb twist on the bottom limb but it’s minor. Thanks for looking.
Dave
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Couple more…
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There are some beautiful glass bows out there but in my opinion there is just something special about a self bow
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Looking real nice Dave! What is the final length going to be?
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Looking real nice Dave! What is the final length going to be?
I’m thinking 66” ntn. Hoping for 55lbs at 29”
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Beautiful work! Those recurves look really nice. Thanks for posting this build-along. Couple questions: what is the thickness of the sapwood, and do you have a thought on the optimal ratio of sapwood to heartwood? I’ve had more trouble with yew selfbows holding together more than any other wood. Might be how much sapwood i am leaving. Thanks
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Thanks Will. Right now it’s about 1/8”-3/16” thick in spots. I’m going to play with my limb widths a little yet to keep a good ratio of 1/3rd sapwood and 2/3rds heartwood. I’ve had better luck with this ratio. Nothing I’ve come up with or anything on that ratio but just learned from guys on here. Sometimes we get lucky with less but it’s chancy. I’m backing all of mine now regardless of ratios. It looks great and protects the soft sapwood. I got this idea from Simk on pa here. It was at about 60lbs or just under at 20” on short string before the recurves. With adding the recurves and shortening it an inch on both ends the poundage will have gone up considerably. I’ll get back at it tomorrow and remove some weight.
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Coming along great, Dave. Will this remain a selfbow or will you sinew back it?
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Nice and informative posts! How thick are the limbs where the recurves begin to bend and will you thin them much more? Bow looks really promising :OK
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Coming along great, Dave. Will this remain a selfbow or will you sinew back it?
Thanks Pat. I will keep it a self bow. I will rawhide back for protection of sapwood but that’s it.
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Nice and informative posts! How thick are the limbs where the recurves begin to bend and will you thin them much more? Bow looks really promising :OK
Thanks Aksel. The thickness is about 1/2”- 5/8”. The width of limb just before the recurves is just under 1”. I left lots of room for removal if needed
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Here’s my set up for taking the little twist out of the one limb. The bottom limb. It helps to keep things inline. I added a tiny bit of setback at same time. About 1/2”- 1”. Or so. Not really expecting to keep any of it be we shall see. I really just hoping to see it straightened up more then Anything. Thanks for looking.
Dave
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Looks good Dave! That one will be fast I bet!
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Well I had put this bow aside for a bit and decided to get back at it. I added some Buffalo horn overlays on the tips and the saddle strips on the handle area. I then rounded this a bit. It will be a ambidextrous bow around the 50lbs draw mark. I’ve still got more file work to do yet but getting basic Shape. I e got it tillered so far out to 20”. Will be getting to 28” and shooting for 50-55lbs. I’ll update with pics of the tiller here next few days. Anyway just a quick update on this yew billets build.
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One more pic
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Finished up the handle and put good coat of tung oil and rubbed it in good. I am currently at 45lbs at 22” draw. No pics yet hopefully tomorrow. Gonna do a bit more pulling and fine tuning to get to 28” and hopefully hit 50-55lbs. Bend so for looks good. Reflex currently at 3.25” or so. Hoping to maintain 2” all said and done. We shall see. These billets had a very slight natural deflex to them but nothing to significant. I heated out most of it and then steamed in the recurves. You can still see the glue lines of the splice easily but still doesn’t bother me. I guess I could have clamped it little better. Seems to be holding which is the important thing. Thanks for looking.
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More…
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Looking real good so far! Glue lines look good to me. Going to be a sharp looking bow when all finished up with those horn plates on the handle. Mike
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Looking great Dave. You really make a great looking bow.
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Looking real good so far! Glue lines look good to me. Going to be a sharp looking bow when all finished up with those horn plates on the handle. Mike
Thanks mike. The horn plate were a last minute detail on this one. I was thinking I would put a leather wrap on it and hide the glue line on the splice but thought it looked better this way. Plus I can keep an eye out for any issues with my splice. I suspect it’s fine and it won’t matter I guess if there ends up failure in the joint but still like to be able to see it.
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Looking great Dave. You really make a great looking bow.
Thanks mike much appreciated!
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Quick update on this build. I tillered it to 57lbs at 28”. I decided on this number just on the look of the bend and the heartwood to sapwood ratios and the fact it shot so buttery smooth. I guess if I decide later if my shoulder acts up I’ll shave a bit more or trap the belly perhaps. There is something magical about yew though. Can’t quite put my finger on it but it’s there. This bow shoots very very well. I’m tempted to make this my hunting bow for next year. I was only able to shoot a dozen times or so due to rain here but it didn’t matter what side I shot from or what arrow Spine I shot from it it seemed to like them all. I realize more shooting is needed but I’m liking what I’m seeing so far. It did take some set though but I don’t even care really as it shoots like a dream. Don’t get me wrong you guys know I love Osage and have a love affair with hickory but this billet bow I’m pretty happy with. My video gal wasn’t around so I’ll have to take some video in hopefully next few days as wether clears up. I started out with about 3.5” reflex and immediately after string I’ve got about 2.5”. After about 20-30 mins it crept back to 3” where it settled in at this point. More shooting with this will likley end me around 2.5”. I’m ok with that. I think most of the set I got was the little bit of natural deflex in the billets to start with. Maybe I didn’t put enough heat perhaps to make it stick around? So a all in all great shooter. The speeds are good too although will have to text this to be sure when better wether comes. It seems fast and straight. I shot a 400, 350, and 300 spine arrows. All shot quite well but if had to pick one it would be the 300. Anyway it was a fun build more to come. I’ll get some video and more pics up here soon. Thanks for following along.
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Nice job and beautiful bow, Yew is special wood for sure, kind of unpredictable for me sometimes but when it makes a bow is is a sweet one. :)
Old saying from here a few years back was Osage is King and Yew is Queen ;) :) :)
Pappy
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Can’t wait to hear the speeds. May fool us and be a contender in the 70# class.
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Nice job and beautiful bow, Yew is special wood for sure, kind of unpredictable for me sometimes but when it makes a bow is is a sweet one. :)
Old saying from here a few years back was Osage is King and Yew is Queen ;) :) :)
Pappy
Thanks pappy! Ya it has been for me too. Like you say when it works it make a sweet one.
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Can’t wait to hear the speeds. May fool us and be a contender in the 70# class.
We shall see. I’m still debating on getting it down in weight a bit more. I’ll try and get so more shooting in and decide. Hopefully my camera lady is around today. I need to invest in a tripod or something I think!