bows - yew

[troy]

I am posting this to assist Eric who's running a course soon and despite the fact that I am no expert in these matters (or any thing else for that matter!) I thought that every one else may be interested.

There are members out there who are also better or have more experiance then me at this and if there is any thing they think is wrong or can add, then please do - we are all here to drain each others brains, so to speak.

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1, after peeling bark off a length of the branch/stave is chosen that is most free of knots (curves and twist can either be avoided or used for extra character or to increase final strength). Next the dimensions and shape of bow are drawn on (flat bow in this case).

I do this by first drawing centre line down length of bow, then finding the centre/middle and draw in the handle dimensions followed by sides and finally nocks.

Now the cutting starts on the sides first. If there is alot of wood to be removed I use an axe (gransfors camp or sportmans axe should do).

Note at this stage you are just roughing out to the shape of the bow and not cutting down as far as the dimension lines - any hasty misstakes at this stage and especially at the next stages with heavy handiness with the axe could ruin or force you to change the bow you are making. Also it is a good idea to get into the habit of cutting from the centre towards each nock and not end to end -this helps to keep each side of the bow shape identical and the final tillering easier.

2, Once the roughing out has finished, I have used a drawknife on a shaving horse to showing start cutting down to the dimension lines (a cleaving brake or a lenght of cord tied into a prusik knot around the stave with your foot in the loop, could also be used) - the picture shows the process of cutting out the handle. Normally I start on one side and gradually work down to the lines as far as half way along the handle - then switch sides and do the other end, carrying on doing this until I have got down to just above the lines.

Once you have finished this second cut, the bow should have a rectangular or squarish profile, depending on the thickness of the branch/stave

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3, This is the stage when you start cutting away on the belly side of the bow (facing the archer) producing a more pyramid profile and finally cutting down onto the dimension lines (some may not want to go any where near these lines until near the end of the tillering stage and that fine)

4, This photo shows the gradual process of cutting down to the pyamid profile. On a shaving horse you are able to work on both sides of the bow, better ensuring a equal amount of wood is taken off both sides as you work your way down to the nocks.

This stage takes time - you may have to cut down each side about a dozen times to get to the pyamind profile, but this is your bow and you want it to be a good one and try not to use an axe or power tool to speed it along. I have ruined a many good bows that way!

Once it gets to the state shown in the photo you need to cut the sharp ridges to then form a D profile ensuring that the depth between the back (that side facing a target) and the belly is not below 1/2 inch - IF you can just bend the bow, as shown in photo 5, then stop cutting.

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The strenght of a bow is more important then how it looks at this stage. I could just bend it this far (so its probably only about 5lbs - only joking!). Don't bend it too far - too much stress on the wood could damage it at this stage

The next stage is floor tillering - this is when you only cut on areas along the bow where it does not bend - and again take your time and don't take huge amounts off - from here onwards you are only cutting away waffer slices of wood. may not sound much, but its surprising how fast your bows poundage can drop - remember you can always remove wood but you cannot put it back on. After any amounts of wood are taken off the bow, bend it slowly a dozen times when the full effect of the wood removal should be evident.

Once both sides of the bow seem to bend evenly (does'nt have to be exact) then temporary nocks are cut into each end at equal distances from the centre and a tillering string is placed on the bow ( a good strong string that is longer then the bow) and the proper tillering starts which I will cover in another post.

Hope this helps Eric, apologise if I went on but seeing as it a public thread, thought I should include all. Will post thread on Ash Board comparison tomorrow/soon.

Troy

 

[moduser]

Great article. Thanks for sharing it.

Always fancied a long bow, make a change from my compound and recurve.

Inspiring.

 

[Doc]

I've shot some of Troy's bows and they are good - probably 35 to 40lb draw, no stacking even at my 28.5 inch draw, not much handshock and used instinctively they 'shoot where you look'. Also some are rawhide backed so they should be less inclined to 'follow the string'. They also look good.

 

[Marts]

Very Inspiring Troy. Cheers.

I'm on a bowmaking course in a couple of months. Can't wait

 

[troy]

Cheers for every body kind words so far.


One thing I forgot to mention (amongst probably five thousand other things) is that yew in the form I was using it, tends to be a rare thing these days especially one with that was farly striaght and knotless. Most have been cut down due to being pisonous and are only found now on private etates/church yards. Best thing to do is have a few tree surgeon contacts.
The branch I used was fairly green still and thus easier to cut with drawknife - once you have cut it down to the floor tillering stage, you could leave it to dry some more or carry on (it will dry quicker once cut out). I have made a self bow (any bow without backing made of one or two woods) striaght from a white ash I had cut down and made a nice bow out of it that I was using two weeks later - still am. But this was in an area when it was hot and very humid, so it dried quite quickly.

Moisture content is a concideration you have to remember when using self made bows - too dry and their snap (had a nice short pyamid plains bow, central heating in house in winter dried it too much, needed really to be climatized to outdoors), too wet and they will loose strenght/form (like any bows you've made quickly in woods for kids out of coppice type branches).

Kiln/air dried timber boards have a fairly low water content (some don't like using kiln dried because method destorys certain cells - but I have used both). I usually get mine from hardwood dealers and leave for a while in the shed for it to aclimitize to local area, but drier wood is harder to work with as will be demostrated in 'Bows - ash board' which I will post later once the kids finish beating me up, again.

At the end of the day - if a certain piece of wood whats to be a bow, your find it. If it wants to be a spoon, it will break no matter how delicate you are with it.

Good hunting

 

[Eric_Methven]

Excellent Troy. Thanks so much for posting it. I'll try and get some more green yew and some green ash for the next meet - maybe some birch staves too.

Eric

 

[nickg]

Good strong yew billets are really hard to find and can be expensie since the veneer factors trade them for loads of dosh, but you can use branches about 4-5" dia which the veneer boys cant be bothered with. They will make a perfectly good 'boughstave' bow. The wood can be worked quite green but is better air dried for a few months, It will twist like crazy as it dries so the bow will not last more than a year or so in a useable condition unless you are lottery lucky. Kiln of accelarated drying will make this happen too, but in far less time and with more exaggerated effects so try to avoid that.

 

[troy]

Good points Nickg - yew stave I was using was cut about a month before, and was the nicest bit of yew I,ve seen in ages.

with bows that I have cut out of just felled trees, I would just slit them into quarters and leave for a while or cut into shape and use its green state to the advantage of bending it striaght and clamping it down with the nocks slightly bent to create recurves, some thing that can only be done with seasoned wood by heating/boiling each part of the bow you have to correct/alter.

When searching out hardwood dealers for a supply of timber - you can ask if they air or kiln dry their wood, most do both to a certain degree and if you start using the same one more often, they tend to be more accomodating to an archers needs.
With joiner shop offcuts, you have the advantage of finding pieces that are cut out of better quality wood and of perfect widths/diameters for laminate bows. In the end, the more you talk to these people about what your going to make out of their scraps/timber the more interested they get in helping you - probably more interesting then another set of stairs or windows any way.

for the more exotic woods, like hickery/lemonwood try
http://www.northheighamsawmills.co.uk/longbows.html#longbows

 

[troy]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=319&stc=1

photo showing progress of bow tillering - draws 50lb plus at 25 inches.


http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=320&stc=1

another photo showing method of attaching rawhide backing to a curved back bow stave by using wet rawhide string.

 

[Eric_Methven]

You guys that come up to the next Scottish meet are going to be drooling when you see how much long straight yew I have. I bought three quarters of a ton of it from a coppice merchant who felled it just before last christmas. It's in perfect condition to work with a drawknife and spokeshave. I only paid a pound a foot and I got over eighty quid's worth. Most of the pieces will yield four bows each.

The yew had been coppiced some twenty five years ago and was on National Trust land. The coppice merchant had the contract for woodland maintainance and the national trust changed usage of the land (they introduced wild boar to the woods as an experiment). Because yew is poisonous, they decided to take it out so the boar wouldn't browse on it. Aren't I a lucky fellow. The merchant hadn't a clue of it's value.

Eric

 

[troy]

enclosed pictures of the bow I made from yew, eric had at mini meet whose form could be cut out well within two days.

also shown is self made back/waist quiver with detachable sling (used as belt for waist quiver). Could also be made within two days, especially if fancy edge braiding is not used. (2mm heavey leather needed for quiver at 10 sq ft).

 

[morch]

Thats a great lookin bow Troy, the quiver looks good too.

 

[jdlenton]

nice bow and quiver Troy do you have a pattern for the Quiver or any photos of it under constuction? I'd quite like to make my own quiver

 

[troy]

I did make a rough sketch of a plan, but being an experimental project, I have made numerous alterations and may do with the next one (for which I will cover in more detail).

Will repost when done.

Cheers all for kind comments

 

[starfury]

Any progress with the plans yet?