Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Bow Nut on July 05, 2011, 06:57:25 pm
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I have a 63 3/4 x 2 x 2 piece of yew on the way. I have never worked yew out of a stave. it is claimed to have 30 or more rings per inch. I want to make a heavy weight hunting bow out of it. what are some good dimensions for this wood with a handle and arrow shelf?
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sounds like a good piece wood you know if ya have the sap on it or what it ya do id make it with what ya got and make it like a osage flat bow maybe flip the tips or recurve em should make 55-65 easey if it s good wood brock
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yea the sap wood is supposed to be a 1/4" thick. so a narrow bow would be fine or should I go a bit wider?
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What is your draw length? 1/4 sap is perfect. Leave the sap wood on and feather in any rough spots on the back then shoot for about 1.5" wide at the fade for your finished bow. About 1 3/8" mid limb and then taper the last 12" to about 1/2" at the tips. Thickness about 3/4" at the fades tapering gradually towards the tips. Leave the last 12" about 1/2" thick. I would do the rest in the handle wrap apposed to a cut in shelf.
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sounds like some good demintions I think I will flip the tips as well I like a shelf because it gets me closer to center shot and seems more acurrate with all the bows I have built. but we will see when I get to working on it.
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right on kennan where i was headed also haha sound s good me i dont like the shelf myself tho brock
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the shelf will depend on if you are having the bow bend through the handle some, which you may want to if you have a draw length of 28" you can taper in the handle area and add a leather shelf, just leave enough meat the the area not to make it weak. I do shelfs on some of my bows, only about 1/4" then fold a piece of leather to make it wider, or add a sliver of wood or golf tee. I really like a 64" bow for my hunting bow so yours should be good. the dimensions keenan gave are great for a shorter bow, just leave the belly a little bit radiused, helps reduces the amount of set.
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sounds good I was thinking of a stiff handle offcourse but i have never used this wood will it hold up with a stiff handle?
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Dude...your gonna love working,scraping,rasping yew. I ve worked with Osage,hickory,hophornbeam,american hornbeam,downy serviceberry,elm,black locust,and eastern red cedar. And yew is by far my favorite to work with;I just roughed a stave down from my new stash (so I have a stave to work sooner than later) and established the bows profile and elb D cross section and early floor tiller in no time with hand tools only. If it shoots and feels as good as Osage then it might top my list over Osage because of its workability. ;D
Good advice above from some yew guys
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That is soooo cool...can't wait to see it.
I've gotta get one of those soon.....
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just got the stave in today thought by showing some pics it might help the decision making process on dimensions. there are 2 large knots.
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This is cool! Looks like a nice piece of wood, though those knots would make me sweat a bit. I'm looking forward to what you come up with. Good luck.
George
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Those knots look interesting. Can't wait to see what you do with it....
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This is cool! Looks like a nice piece of wood, though those knots would make me sweat a bit. I'm looking forward to what you come up with. Good luck.
George
yea Im sweating lol they are pretty large
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Looks great! Those knots will not even be in the bow and should be no problem. You will just have the character bump left and most of the knott will be taken out.
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yea that is what I was thinking but I have yet to make a caracter bow so it will be a first I might set it aside and work on some of my caracter osage first since i have quite a few of thouse and only one of these just to be on the safe side
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Yup. Lay a narrow deep round D belly bendy handle to the other side and.....poof...those knots will be gone. Nice piece of wood. Should make a nice one with a couple beauty bumps.
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just counted the rings and got 33 per inch. this stuff is light weight as can be I would imagine it makes for a fast shooting bow.
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ok so I get it roughed out took every ones advice it is looking good but towards one end there is quite a bit of deflex in the limb I think when i get it ready for the long string I will try to correct it with heat and maybe flip the tips just a little. it is very strait has some nice character humps and thouse knots are almost gone I am sure with the finished product they wont be there at all. I am thinking taking the handle in on both sides and having it start to bend in the las few inches of draw. dont really care much for bendy handle bows but I think this staves needs some extra forgiveness. does dry heat work well with yew for minor bends like that or shall I steam her. any in-site on this will be greatly appreciated as I have always wanted to make a bow from a yew stave and dont want to mess it up as I only have one chance.
thanks
for some reason it wont let me post the other pics huh well maybe you can see enough in thouse to be able to answer my questions.
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ok I have steam the tips and tliped them and got it as strait as I can for now and got all the deflex out of it as well. still need to heat and straiten a little more. It did not steam bend as well as osage or bend as easily but it came out good. it has been sitting about a week after the steaming I need to use some dry heat to get the tips inline they are about 1" off from center with the handle and then I will let it sit another week or so and begin my tillering. I am thinking just a rounded Hump for a handle non bendying but small and short. Any suggestions on my idea?
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Thats looking nice so far!
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good looking piece of yew. I like bend in the handle bows better , jusy my preference. keep posting pics, everybody like 'em. :)
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Looks real good. Your yew sure looks different (more yew-like) than mine. Anxious to see yours bending.
George
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give me about a week or so and she will be on the tillering stick. got some other nice bows to post in the mean time though