Yew long bow?????

[unclewhit]

Ok guys I've got this Yew stave (2 billits finger jointed) I've had it for 8 years now. I've lugged it cross country twice, from west coast to east coast & back to the west coast. I'm sick of lugging the darn thing around.
I think it may be time to put some wood chips on the floor. My last attempt at a yew long bow ended in an explosion, the result of small worm holes in the sap wood. My tears have long since dried. It's time to get the draw knife out of retirement. YEAH!!! My question is to those of you in the know, How much sap wood is typicly left on the bow?  (Is it personal preference?) Or DON'T disturb any of the sap wood? These two billits happen to have an over abundance of sap wood.  I'm thinking of a D-bow, bend through the handle style, 55# to 60# & 70" to 72".
Thanks for the help
Jeff

[Diamondback59]

post some pic s jeff but id say about 3 / 8  or less sap just depends pic s would help  have fun with it !! brock

[No-sage]

3/8 to 1/4"

Do yourself (and the stave) a favor on this one and back it before you get to bending it much.  Yew will typically have several ring violations because the rings are so tight.

Rawhide has traditionally been used with yew.

[Pat B]

I'd say 1/4"to 3/8" for the sapwood.   I have made a few(not many) yew self bows, one is 95#@30" and another is 48#@26". The war bow(95#@30")had a natural 1/4" sapwood. On the other(one of my 2 hunting bows for this year)I brought down the sapwood to 1/4". On this bow the sapwood was violated and I have had no ill effects from it even with a few knots and pins in the back. Yew generally isn't effected by moderate grain violations from what I have heard.
  The war bow is 72" long and this other is 66" long. Both bend through the handle in the arc of a circle.      Pat

[Shaun]

Yew is great stuff and I had several spectacular explosions before I got a bow out of this material. What I learned is that it bends and springs back in a wonderful fashion but it will not bend as far as osage. I had to learn to make more of the limb, or even all of the limb bend. You cannot get away with a large stiff center handle area and stiff tips making the middle of the limb do all the bending unless your bow is very very long.

Rawhide backing will not prevent an explosion from over bending. The purpose of the backing is to protect the soft sap wood from dings and dents in use.

1/4 to 3/8" sounds right to me too. If you leave too thick, you will run out of heart wood towards the tips.

Post some pictures for us when you make this one.