Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => English Warbow => Topic started by: beartail on September 04, 2015, 10:21:03 am
-
I have been making and shooting bows since 1999 and I have never even had the chance to hold a beautiful yew war bow much less shoot one! I haven't even seen or touched one! im just saying, sit back and take it in how fortunate you guys are to be enjoying these beautiful, awesome, functional works of art! a yew English long bow to me is the highest step on the latter. don't get me wrong, I lovem all,but even a complicated compound bow made with a million different materials taking months to build cant compare to one of these beauty's! I inveigh you guys! so never take it for granted what you have.peace.
-
Where are you from? Yew isn't that rare or hard to find any more unless you're in a country that doesn't have it or allows the import of it - seems odd that you've never come across any.
-
Define hard to find? For the average builder it is a bit spendy, and still hard to find a good stave without the risk of getting taken by an online seller.
-
For sure, but I would have thought that if you'd been making bows for 16 years and yew warbows had always interested you, you'd find a way to get hold of some. In the UK it's free if you know where to look, and you guys in the States have it growing in a lot of places. I remember a thread on here a while back from somebody in the US detailing how much yew is chopped down and burned as waste.
-
Sadly there is a lot of good wood that is cut down and wasted. One of the tree services I know chips all of their trees and dumps them at a goat farm.
-
That was my point! If you give cards out to all of the people who come across trees, whether they're tree surgeons, arborists, enviromentalists, local government employees, park wardens... and every one of them knows you're interested in getting hold of some yew, before long you're drowning in the stuff.
People have to PAY to get timber removed or stored somewhere. And along comes somebody offering to take it off their hands for nothing. Simple.
-
You guys are super lucky, I've never even handled yew, nope it's just elm, hickory, and dogwood. But I'm okay with that.
-
Beartail: No problem finding a suitable stave. Use e-bay, use your network. I'm sure you will find something. Where do you live?
:)