Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: DarkSoul on August 14, 2012, 12:29:53 pm
-
Here's my latest creation; an English yew (Taxus baccata) English longbow. It's nothing really spectacular, but very serviceable nonetheless. The yew came from a tree trimmer, and was probably grown somewhere in a garden. That means the wood had grown rapidly with maybe only 12 to 15 rings per inch. Although I do prefer slower growth yew, this bow comes to show that even the coursely grown yew is excellent for low- to mediumweight bows. I designed the bow accordingly, though. The wood is noticeably softer than high ringcount wood, so it's quite likely to dent as a hunting bow. But this bow is more of a targetbow with its fair length. The belly is left somewhat flattish. The stave came from a log about 10" across, so the back is pretty flat as well. I had to chase down a few rings of sapwood, since it was way too thick. The heartwood didn't faithfully follow a single ring, so the thickness of the sapwood varies a bit throughout the length of the stave.
The stave had some imperfections. One was a BIG knot on the edge of the stave. I could succesfully lay-out the bow past the knot, but the wood had to flow around the knot. That means there's a so called 'knot shadow' left in the upper limb. The knot itself is gone, but the wood that sweeps around the knot is still there. There's also a few longitudinal cracks in the belly. Since the log has been laying outside in the weather for a while, a few cracks had appeared around the pith. These cracks are small and don't run off the sides of the limbs. It's mostly discoloration what's left now.
To give the bow some nice personal touches, without losing the beauty of the piece of wood, I added fairly simple overlays of European olive wood (Olea europea). The tips are fairly narrow, and the low mass of the tips (partly due to the low specific gravity of the wood) makes it a silent shooter. I also added a special leather handle. It's some kind of lizard skin! A friend of mine found a few old, tanned lizard skins in this grandfathers hourse. He gave them to me, and I decided a leather handle would be an excellent purpose for them. Since the leather was very thin, I glued it onto some thicker leather and then cut and stitched it.
I was initially aiming for a drawweight of about 45#. But when the tiller was perfect at about 45#26", I decided to leave her like this. She now shoots 51# with less than one inch of set, so that's just fine with me!
Stats:
English longbow - selfbow.
English yew, olivewood tips overlays.
73" nock to nock length.
51#@28"
And the pictures of course!
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090871.jpg)
Front profile.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090863.jpg)
Unbraced side profile.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090848.jpg)
Strung.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090843.jpg)
There's also a small hole in the upper limb, that doesn't go through and through.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090827.jpg)
A pic along with my other recent bow, a black locust flatbow.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090833.jpg)
Full draw.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090873.jpg)
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090872.jpg)
The lizard skin handle.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090868.jpg)
A close-up of the knot shadow in the upper limb.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090877.jpg)
Tips. The upper tip is again the black locust flatbow.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090878.jpg)
-
Those are both very nice bows! You've done that yew stave proud. Well done.
-
Beautifully done, refined and graceful just as a yew english longbow should be. Very nice work sir.
Greg
-
Two beautiful bows!!!
-
Beautiful, yew has such beautiful grain. Love the handle.
-
extremely well done! on both bows
-
Beautiful bow,Yew makes a sweet looking bow.Very well done in all aspects. :)
Pappy
-
Smooooth job Jorik. :) between you and druids postings of longbows,its giving me the itch to finish up a couple I got sitting at a floor tillered state waiting to be finished out.
-
Neat! 8)
-
Lovely work, Jorik. Can I ask what material you use as a thread to stitch the leather handles?
-
Nicely done sir! When I was but a wee lad, I had a pair of boots that looked like your handle wrap. I was wondering how much difference there was between high and low ring count yew and what could be done with the low ring count stuff. I now have an answer, thanks for sharing, Josh
-
Very nice bow Darksoul. I gotta get my hands on some yew someday.
-
Mmmmmm, nice to see an ELB :).
Couple of nice bows. I like your text... 'knot shadow' is a nice term for it, I call 'em ghosties ;D but then I do tend to be a tad florid...
I had one with a smear of dark rot showing which I called the Devil's thumb print :o.
Good to hear some elses experience with low ring count Yew on an ELB.
I bet that Yew will darken a tone in a year or so.
Del
-
Wonderful looking bow! The lizard skin is a unique touch - I really like it.
-
that is a nice looking bow, very clean lines and good tiller , i really like the handle wrap too.
-
The tiller tells it all! 8)
-
Good looking bow, and great tiller.
-
Very nice DarkSoul. I like everything about it.
-
Sweet! I haven't tried yew, but really want to get my hands on some. Excellent tiller and fine workmanship.
-
Looks good. Love the grain. Beautiful.
-
they are both amazing. i like the clean lines and simplicity they both show. good work on'em.
-
gorgeous work! love it all. lizard wrap really looks good
-
That is a very clean nice looking bow.......good job.
-
beauty of a ful draw darksoul, great attention to detail, Bub
-
Thanks for the nice comments every one :) Much appreciated! It's not difficult to make a good looking yew bow. The wood itself is so beautiful with lovely details and grain, that we just need to listen to what a particular stave has to offer.
If there's anything I need to improve on, please let me know. I'm still not 100% satisfied with my handle stitching (the ends are always irregular), but I'm getting better at them.
Arklowrebel, the stitching of the leather is just some dacron B50. I use it more often for stitching and I like it. The color is a close match and it's plenty strong enough.
Del the kitty, I'm not sure if 'know shadow' is the correct term, but I think luthiers use it as well. It's the best I could come up with. I do also think the yew will turn darker with one shade in about a year or so. In my experience, the thinner the rings, the darker the wood. At least with yew. Yew with thick rings can have heartwood about the color of salmon, while very thin ringed yew can be nearly brown in color. I also thick that the darker wood tends to turn even darker more rapidly.
I measured the bow, and it's 73" nock to nock. Just to get the figures straight.