yew bow making?

[wolf]

Help please,
Im trying to gather info on making a yew long bow,but the more info i gather the more im meeting contridictions.The one thing i need to know is.........where does the sap wood face,ie the front of the bow the side facing you,or the back of the bow the side facing away from you?Ive read many things and seen pictures of them but im still not sure......thanks..

 

[baggins]

Can't help you, but i'd love to know as well as have been offered a lovely straight yew stave.

 

[jojo]

The sap part of the yew is on the back of the bow, away from you. the reason is that the wood of the bow works in tension on the back and in compression on the belly.
Yew sap wood is very good in tension and the heartwood is better in compression. For that reason yew is seen as the best bow wood. But like everything, it depends! you can make very good bows with other woods as well

 

[wolf]

cheers....

 

[Snufkin]

The creamy coloured sap wood is used for the back of the bow ( the part that faces away from you as you hold the bow) and the red heartwood is used for the belly (the part that faces towards you). Ideally you want around an eighth of an inch of sapwood on the back.
Sap wood upper, heartwood at the bottom.

 

[wolf]

so most of the tillering is done on the heartwood side?????

 

[pothunter]

Hi Wolf

The Traditional Archers Hand Book by Hilary Greenland ISBN 0 9524627.

The Archers Craft by Adrain Hodgkin ISBN 1 897853 80 7

Both of the above contain good reference material, Ive never made a bow but from speaking to others they all sugest starting with something like ash and working your way up to yew, ash being far cheaper and easir to obtain.

There was a realy good workshop at the moot during the summer, brain like a sieve cant remember who ran it but somebody on here will know and give you contact details.

Good luck Pothunter.

 

[Snufkin]

so most of the tillering is done on the heartwood side?????

All of the tillering is done on the heartwood. You want to chase a growthring of sapwood along the back of the bow. Or as close as possible, the sapwood rings of yew are incredibly fine and hard to see, the odd violation is ok. If you are lucky the sapwood will be thin and you can just remove the bark and use the first layer as the back.

 

[wolf]

All of the tillering is done on the heartwood. You want to chase a growthring of sapwood along the back of the bow. Or as close as possible, the sapwood rings of yew are incredibly fine and hard to see, the odd violation is ok. If you are lucky the sapwood will be thin and you can just remove the bark and use the first layer as the back.

thanks again....