Author Topic: Yew shorty  (Read 9461 times)

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Offline redhawk55

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Yew shorty
« on: January 24, 2016, 02:32:50 pm »






This yew- stave has accompanied me since 25 years, I made several types of bows out of it and found them all somehow wrong. Finally it took me a lot of trials and errors to get the right design for that stave.
The problem was its weight, I´ve never came across such a heavy piece of yew. Recently I came across Harry Drakes yew- flightbow- design, I was sure that´s it!
The bow measures 45.3" in length, 1/2" at the tips, 1 1/8" at the handle in width, its thickness is about 1/4" at the tips, 1/3" at the handle, physical weight is 25.3oz.
Tillering was made according to Steve Gardners advices.

During the tillering I decided not to sinew back the bow, cause it doesn´t show any set, a really outstanding piece of yew despite its relatively thick growthrings.
I guess that the heavy physical weight indicates the outstanding capablities of the wood.

The arrows are made of laminated and heavily heat- treated douglas fir- strips, so far the hardest arrows I´ve done, spine is carbon- quality. charged with 2lbs at the center, the bent is 1/4" ( the black arrow), the other one bents 1/5". Fletching is still a bit high, I want to have the possibity to shorten them.

As soon as the snow has melted down, I´ll go for the first flights with the bow.
This stave teaches me imaging the bow within a stave is only one half of the job, to be able to see the right design within a stave is the real thing.

Michael
..........the way of underdoing.............

blackhawk

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2016, 03:31:25 pm »
Sweet Hooks!!!

Offline joachimM

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2016, 03:35:01 pm »
Neat bow and arrows! draw weight 46# at 23" right?
How did you make the handle?

Offline Badger

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2016, 03:37:51 pm »
 I really like that Michael, I also appreciated your great narrative. I expect that bow ill do quite well at a decent draw length. Looking forward to your reports!!

Offline redhawk55

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2016, 02:13:38 pm »
Thanx for your comments!
Some test-shots with common arrows had been very promising.
I´ve shot both arrows with an ash- longbow, 35lbs, they went about 25- 35yards further than common arrows.

The handle is made of walnut, the limbs are glued to the handle, the wedges are for to secure the joint.
There are other possible solutions.
It would be better to leave a gap between the two limbs, cause the end grains of the limbs will never make a close joint.
I´ve to modify it.
Keep you updated, Michael
..........the way of underdoing.............

Offline avcase

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2016, 02:39:11 pm »
I like what you are doing. That's a pretty interesting handle design. I look forward to find out how it shoots for you.

I am interested in your heat treated arrows too. Does the wood retain the benefit of the heat treating process over time?

I have played around with heat treating spruce arrow shafts and was very impressed with the initial results, but the stiffness degraded over time as the arrow rehydrated. There was still some benefit after the arrow shaft achieved equilibrium.

Alan

Offline Badger

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2016, 03:36:27 pm »
  Allen, I baked a few of the western larch shafts but showed no permanent gain.

Offline redhawk55

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2016, 06:28:56 am »
I found out you need to heat- treat the wood till it becomes really dark- brown and almost black, till it begins to carbonize. Then there'll be no rehydrating.
The strips are about 1.5mm in thickness, heat- treated from both sides, the arrows are barelleled, the thickest diameter near the center of the black arrow is 7mm, the other one measures 6mm.

I want to keep the handle as short as possible for to have as much working limb as possible in such a short bow.

Michael
..........the way of underdoing.............

Offline Del the cat

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2016, 03:05:37 pm »
V cool, I'll be interested to hear how she goes.
Del
Health warning, these posts may contain traces of nut.

Offline threebirches

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2016, 10:21:36 am »
Very nice - thank you! How much is the draw-weight? Did you measure it yet?

Offline Aussie Yeoman

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2016, 05:44:16 pm »
Redhawk, I'm always impressed by your bows, especially your joinery of fixing the riser and limbs together. Could you do a buildaong, or a write-up of your process for doing this?

Dave
Articles for the beginning bowyer, with Australian bowyers in mind:

http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/articles/tutorials

Offline redhawk55

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2016, 03:33:25 am »
Drawweight is 46lbs/23".
More pics on my German blog: http://www.holzbogenxplosion.de/index.html/ein-flightbogen-aus-roter-eibe-im-vintage-stil/.
I had been( still I am) a cabinetmaker and have had the luck to learn a lot of the traditional wood-joinery by a master craftsman.
There are other possibilities to fix a handle too.
I' ll do a build-along on my blog: https://redhawk55.wordpress.com/ as soon as my 8 puppies will give me the time.

Marc St.Louis knows a lot about joining handles too.

Michael
..........the way of underdoing.............

Offline joachimM

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #12 on: February 19, 2016, 05:56:57 am »
Yes the pictures on your page do it even more credit. Can't wait for that build-along.

Offline loon

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2016, 11:20:17 pm »
Wow that's a beauty. Love your other bows as well. What's the string made out of?

Offline redhawk55

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Re: Yew shorty
« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2016, 06:19:52 am »
String is made of flax, yellow- dyed.
One strand stands a bit more than 1lbs, so the string is made of 42 strands.
Finally the string has been waxed a bit.
Michael
..........the way of underdoing.............