Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: NicAzana on January 29, 2026, 05:48:11 am
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I was lucky enough to get a load of freshly cut European Yew staves this summer from a family member, and spent the last three days drying a sample in the oven at 105 *C (221 *F).
It is all from the same tree, which came from a stand of fairly large diameter (10-30 inches?) straight-growing yew in a timber forest on sandy soil here in Denmark.
It turned out to weigh 79.9 g and I just measured its volume to between 100-105 ml by submersion in a measuring cylinder with 10 ml markings.
That gives me a specific gravity of .77-.78 which I think is pretty good for Yew, especially low elevation yew. Even if I make a conservative estimate and assume that it wasn't completely dry - say, 79g (even though it only lost about 0.2 g in the last ~6 hours of drying), and take the absolute maximum volume (105), that still gives me an SG of .75.
My question is, does anyone have any specific advice for yew, when it comes to adjusting for density, beyond the general observation that higher density allows for a more narrow and/or short design?
And does anyone have any concrete information on how modulus of elasticity changes with specific gravity in yew? I've recently started using VirtualBow in the design phase (and a bit for informing tiller shape), and MoE is a key input.
Thanks,
Nicolas