I've done quite a bit of splitting with wooden wedges, but i believe that I'll get a lot more precision of split with thin steel wedges. i guess I'll get to see!
Yew longbow
- Thread starter Snufkin
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In my language, yew is called 'venijnboom' (venom tree). There was a myth saying whoever slept under a taxus would be dead (cattle included). The reason they planted them in churchyards was hence "to keep the dead dead" and preventing ghosts by extra poisoning the defunct.Snufkin said:
I like the cattle/fence explanation. But you find taxus on churchyards in all European countries, also in those without longbow tradition. Longbow warfare was a typical XIVth century English invention.
BTW, the oldest tree in Belgium is supposed to be a yew near the gate of the little town of Lo (near Veurne, West-Flanders). Nobody knows exactly, but the tree is reputed to be 2000 years old and is aptly named Caesar's tree.
Jimbo,
Given the narrow cross section involved, I'd be tempted to try a froe and mallet if you had such a thing (and I'd be amazed if you didn't
). I've never tried one on anything near that long, but they do a lovely job on shakes and shingles
Red
Given the narrow cross section involved, I'd be tempted to try a froe and mallet if you had such a thing (and I'd be amazed if you didn't
). I've never tried one on anything near that long, but they do a lovely job on shakes and shinglesRed
Actually I don't have a froe, Red. I gave mine away, because someone had a use for it and I didn't...... It's actually quite difficult to properly split a sapling into staves, by splitting from one end. I tried with a Tramontina machete which is well convexed, wide bladed and thin. splits run out but that may just be a characteristic of the red alder I was using to try the technique on. Now a thin bladed froe with a handle to lever on and keep the split even would work, I'm sure. Far less trouble to make up some small thin metal wedges, though.
I can get one stave out of a section of alder, but when I set to work on vine maple, I only want to drop one and get as much as possible out of it. the bright red and orange leaves are the only relief from a grey sea on and dark green and brown forest here, in late fall. Sky is usually grey , too...
I can get one stave out of a section of alder, but when I set to work on vine maple, I only want to drop one and get as much as possible out of it. the bright red and orange leaves are the only relief from a grey sea on and dark green and brown forest here, in late fall. Sky is usually grey , too...
Snufkin, I hope you dont mind my resurecting this thread, but this is a really nice bow, hope I can see it sometimes. Where did you get the skin? or did you tan it yourself?? :notworthy
anyone tried making a selfbow out of willow. I've got loads of it growing here some of it pretty straight.
I'll bring it along to a meet if you like. I used to be a chef so I collected the skins myself. Just scraped the scales off whilst on the fillet then skinned it and fleshed the hide. I'd bung them in the freezer until I had a good batch and then veg tan them. You can boil up a load of oak bark to make the solution, it smells lovely or you can get a cheap packet of loose leaf tea and boil that up. Once it's cold pop in your skins and stir them around. leave them in there for five or six days stiring regularly. Them rinse them off and either tack them to boards and dry them or freeze them again (freezing is my prefered method).jojo said:
Here are a couple more pics
Full draw (the lower limb looks a little stiff, it was but it's mostly because of the angle of the pic and the snake in the stave).
Looking down from the upper limb (limb tips have since been thinned down)
Full draw (the lower limb looks a little stiff, it was but it's mostly because of the angle of the pic and the snake in the stave).
Looking down from the upper limb (limb tips have since been thinned down)
Ketchup said:
Another thing.. in old 'pagan' mythology, didn't the yew tree represent death? Thus the old connections were passed on and so yews in cemeteries. Also as it is very long lived, it is a very long time until the cemetery and people buried within the root structure would be disturbed again. Or, as yew naturally forms it's own circular groves as the old tree dies and it's branches form new ones, it would be form a natural pagan worship site surely? And as mentioned before, the Christians would build their churches on old pagan temples etc. Put this all together, and we we have yew trees in cemeteries.
Ps, I know where there are quite a few yew trees with long straight bits without knots, branches etc and with non twisting bark. Good for bows you reckon??
... And I thought Yews were planted around castles for the purpose of making bows and straight arrows...
Beatufil bow, do you also create your own arrows?
Beatufil bow, do you also create your own arrows?
Yes, I would quite like to see it. I'll bring the two I am making as well, either sat. or sun. I have made quite a few arrow shafts as well, using Spruce, but to get enough properly spine you have to make quite a lot of them! I buy POC shafts and put footing on them as I think they break a bit too easily othewise. Where could I find some salmon skin?? i dont think Tesco would helpSnufkin said:
. how many skins did it take for the whole bow? As one I am making is sort of Indian style, the skins would look right on it.
Spacemonkey said:
Snufkin said:
The bits I have seen ( I have this strange habit of eyeing up every yew tree I see...) are the vertical 'stems' that grow out of the side of the main trunk. One i saw yesterday was about 10" or more diameter and there was a 10ft section about 8" wide that had no knots, staright bark and no limbs. Sounds good, and I'm sure it wouldn't harm the rest of the massive tree if it was taken carefully.
Thought's on this please?
With the skins you get half that is dark back skin and half that is lighter and thinner belly skin, so I cut the skins down the middle and use either all back or all belly skin. It took four sections to do my longbow. As for sources, try your local fishmonger. He may have other interesting skins to try. I've thought that halibut might make a good andle wrap and eel skin might be worth a try.jojo said:Yes, I would quite like to see it. I'll bring the two I am making as well, either sat. or sun. I have made quite a few arrow shafts as well, using Spruce, but to get enough properly spine you have to make quite a lot of them! I buy POC shafts and put footing on them as I think they break a bit too easily othewise. Where could I find some salmon skin?? i dont think Tesco would help
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