Hunting Yew down

[mad_jacktar]

Does anyone in or around Gloucestershire (or ideally in the Forest of Dean where I dwell) have a lead on a good sized Yew tree? There are some ancient trees in the forest but none - so far - have been willing to shed a branch for me. I've got a couple I frequent after big blows to see if they've dropped anything sizable for me to shape, store and eventually make a bow out of... but thus far I am without a stave to my name.

Would appreciate any leads you fellows might have... and before any of you suggest it I don't want to take the chainsaw to any of them. Not very sporting is it?

Cheers

 

[Broch]

Sorry, can't help, but the problem really is that dropped branches have dropped for a reason and are highly unlikely to be suitable for bow making. Any of us that make bows are on a constant lookout for good Yew material but have to content ourselves with practicing with other woods until we find some

 

[mad_jacktar]

This was to be a first attempt so likely, a bit crap lol so yeah good call brother!

 

[bobnewboy]

Try elm or ash for your first few bows. In my experience elm is much more forgiving as ash is liable to chrysal if the tillering isn’t spot on. Ash is a bit cheaper though. Look for good seasoned boards with the best grain you can find at a timber suppliers - you have to sort through many boards before finding a good one. Suitable yew staves/boards are very few and far between, especially those suitable for self bows.

 

[GreyCat]

Yew which is decent for bows is imported.

Back in old times, there was I believe a "tax" of bowstaves on imports- basically, you could only import the goods if you also brought in the required number of bowstaves. ("Ten bowstaves for every butt of Malmsey wine" according to E G Heath in "The Grey Goosewing- a History of Archery")

The best yew bowstaves are apparently grown up a mountain in a forest- so they grow with few knots and close-grained. This is still true, but there are fewer of the forests left, which is proably why the Victorians went to laminated longbows.

@mad_jacktar : do you have any of the "Bowyers bible" books? They have loads of suggestions for different bow woods and the sort of designs to use, it's a set of 4 books.

GC

 

[Broch]

To be honest, if you're starting from scratch, I think the Traditional Bowyer's Bible are overly complex (fantastic though they are), sorry GC. They also change historic opinion between the books in the series.

To make your first bow, I cannot recommend enough John Rhyder's book 'Woodcraft', in which he details the making of three types of bow: longbow, Holmegaard, and Mollaget - the latter two being true traditional bows

 

[GreyCat]

No worries @Broch , each to their own!

I only found the Bowyers Bible after I had been taight how to make longbows by a proper bowyer.... so it was building on what I'd been learning.There's also a good little Hilary Greenland book "The Traditional Archers Handbook" but i have no idea how available it is these days, I've had my copy for over 20 years (it was the 4th edition "revised and expanded" in 2001. She did a lot of early work on bows like the Holmegaard and was a highly respected bowyer at the time, although perhaps she's been forgotten somewhat now.

My bowmaking days withered away and I drifted away from archery due to work (I worked away for a considerable time, no archery clubs in a 50 mile radius!), but I still occasionally browse places like the Primitive Archers forum, and it's clear that the knowledge of how to make different types of bows has come a long way over the years, some of that evolution was happening in the days of the Bowyers Bible, and more has happened since.

GC

 

[Broch]

Oh no, I totally agree that the BB series is fantastic and compulsory reading for any bowyer interested in primitive bows; just maybe not the ideal start for a 'first' bow.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Oh no, I totally agree that the BB series is fantastic and compulsory reading for any bowyer interested in primitive bows; just maybe not the ideal start for a 'first' bow.

..unless you are odd, or of an engineering bent like me.

 

[Broch]

One doesn't come much more 'engineering bent' than I am, but I still wouldn't recommend them as a starting point for most people; unless you know they are odd or of an engineering bent