Longevity of OLD Yew bows?

[SlowBowke]

I've only seen a few Yew bows and most times when I see an old one, the owner refuses to brace them or shoot them.

Are they that fragile?

Who's got one or two or three?

Really are some neat old ones around occasionally.

God Bless for any suggestions and help.

Steve

[Blackhawk]

I suppose you are referring to yew self bows or those that have no fiberglass back/belly.

Common remarks I have heard state that yew is somewhat fragile and can be sensitive to changes in temperature.  It has a natural resin that can solidify in cold weather causing it to pull stiffer.  Yew may also pull easier in hot climate and lose cast.  

Overdrawing any self bow can result in breakage.

Of course, the "problem" with yew can be minimized with fiberglass.

[NumPls]

I think that I read years ago in Saxton Pope's book (Hunting With the Bow & Arrow) - he & Art Young were making yew self-bows - that the question is not "if"   a bow will fail, but "when" it will fail. In other words, the bow will fail, you just do not know "when".

I saw this property of yew bows demonstrated a few years ago. One of the members of my club had a yew bow that he had made at a workshop of some sort. He used the bow for one of our club's 3-D shoots and continued to shoot it for fun afterward (during or after lunch that day). Without warning, the bottom limb broke during a shot. "When", not "if".

Consequently, I understand why owners of older/vintage yew bows are unwilling to brace or shoot them.

Ray

[Bjorn]

Yew bows need to be long..............28" draw calls for a minimum 68" bow. The big problem is lots of chrysalis on bellies of bows that are being overdrawn. Even so they are sensitive to temp changes as others have said.

[Larry m]

I have several Yew Longbows backed with rawhide. One of them is around 20 years old. (I guess that is not that old). I shoot selfwood every now and then and after stringing gradually pull them to draw length. My draw on these bows is 28" and they are 68" plus. On one I had a knot crack appear several years ago. Some tightly wrapped nylon soaked in Tightbond seemed to solve the issue. I'm careful with any old bow and won't take the risk if I think it may come apart.

[d. ward]

one other thought is if you must shoot it and believe me I been wacked over the head maybe more then any other collecter on this forum because of what I do for work(fix broken bows).However if you gotta shoot that old yew wood self bow with no backing make sure and rub both sides of the limbs down real good with your bare hand is fine to warm them up.Trust me it helps alot and I learned that from the man himself Glenn StCharles.
One of these days I have to take the time and share a great story with you guys about old yew wood bows.This old fool I shot with when I was in my 20's.He would string and unstring his bow between every target.Geez what a pain in the neck waiting for him everytime but that ai'nt the funny part bd

[SlowBowke]

Awesome stuff guys and a huge help.

Not a collector for collecting sake, however I do like old "stuff" but I gotta USE them too!

Hate like heck the thought of covering the sapwood on a yew selfbow but...linen and other material was used some.

If USING an old one, wondering if that wouldnt be best option before whanging away with it too.

Thanks to all!

God Bless

[oldbohntr]

Steve,
If memory serves, I've had at least three yew bows blow in about 30 years.  They are especially memorable because they usually end up in about 15-20 pieces - you won't be tempted to glue them back together for a wall hanger! More than any other wood, they seem to develop a "memory" for the guy who shot them first - draw it an inch or so more than he did, and you may be wearing a bunch of splinters!   I'll defer to John Strunk, Jay St Charles, or anyone who knows what those guys do about yew, but my own take on it is: if it is important to you, "leave yew on the wall!"

Now, Osage and hickory are a different matter....

Years ago at the NA Longbow shoot, was my group right after lunch and one fellow-great guy- made a poor(low)shot. Then he remarked "that's what I hate about yew in the afternoon."  I've never been accused of being a comedian, but suddenly it hit me and I said: "well, I don't think so damned much of you in the afternoon, either!!"  That was likely the biggest laugh I've ever gotten, and so I never took my comedy routine on the road!

[SlowBowke]

ROFLMAO!

That .........was a quick reply!

Thanks, all for the great info!

God Bless

[d. ward]

Ok the old dude would string and unstring his bow between every target and before we started shooting he would rub the limbs of his bow with a thin cotton towel.Made no since to me but then again I was not shooting a yew wood self bow.
Years later in my collecting of bows I've come across many good collectable self bows and plenty made of yew living in the northwest.
One day I ran across 3 old english built yew wood long bows.They were built in the early 1800's by a guy named I believe it was Thomas Wareing ? OK OK I had to do it.It was not like I wanted to.I had to shoot one of them I just had to.I choose the one with the thinnest looking limbs to test.But I had forgotten about old limb rubber I used to shoot with and I did not rub the limbs of said 150 + year old yew long bow.Nope I sure did'nt and not that it would have matterd anywho.About 5-6 arrows into my little dream world of thinking wow this is so cool shooting this old bow.And then about arrow 7 at full draw and BANG right over the top of my bald head came about 2/3 of the upper limb.That was a good one and did draw a small amount of blood actualy....but I was OK no big deal I figured what the heck..............yea what the heck ended up not only wacking me over the head but costing alot of money for breaking that one.I won't say what I sold the other 2 bows for but needless to say that day I was hit in the head by half of a 150 plus year old yew wood long bow must have knocked some since into me because that was the last old yew wood bow to wack the bowdoc believe me.I've never strung another one after that happend bd

[SlowBowke]

In my infancy of old bow loving (age 14) and my excuse I blew one that should not have been drawn with what I know NOW.

My dad had five brothers. The oldest of whom, Ora (not a joke, lol) moved to AK in his early 20s and stayed there. (That would have been around the late 30s (?) being 11 years my Dad's senior born in 21)

My family was NOT a bow shooting family. I am the first of RECORDED history (Ora sent back no communications) to hunt and take big game with any kind of bow.

One day I was rummaging as kids do in the attic. (First hint) and came accross a 70 inch selfbow...no string.

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!! WHO'S BOW IS THIS IN THE ATTIC??"

"CALL YOUR DAD!....I Don't remember"

So, I called my dad (divorced parents) after he got home all excited and curious as to where in thunder ANY bow came from found in OUR home.

"I had forgotten about that" Dad told me. "That was your Uncle Ora's bow that he made while living in AK before he died in a motel fire"

"Can I have it?"

"Sure......take it. It's the only thing we have of his and I don't even recall how we got it". (warning warning Will Robinson!"

Well, long story short.......to this day some 45 years later I regret my actions as an ignorant young man. The hardware store carried "cord" that I promply bought (25 cents..I remember!!)and off I went to string that beastie and gave NO thought to the hardware arrows I had for my recurve of no name (that I traded a shot putt (sp?) for NOT being adequate and nocked one in the back yard with a pop bottle cap on a stick for a "target".

I never made it to the shot. Not even one. BLAM!  I didnt have a single piece more than 8 inches long.

Of course, Dad's resulting "hindsight" that I shouldnt have shot it was about half as stiff as the reply I got to "why didn't you tell me that BEFORE I shot it?"

...but have never forgotten the look and feel of that first selfbow and wish I could look up at it on the wall now in my elder years and imagine what Ora did with that bow there so many years ago.

As time has passed, more "aged" items have become more interesting. Somehow the newly made yet of old style bows just ."aint the same"??

Perhaps it's my subconscious trying to convince me that my also old style (and perhaps simliar to the attic aged longbow of Ora's) body can still do many things that it was "meant for" like these old bows and I "relate" but when I see something of their ilk on the auctions I cannot help but think it lays there saying...

"One more..give me ONE MORE HUNT"

We all know there are SO many lovely bows of the past and why this forum exists yet my attention keeps going back.......and back further. Each bow I can find a way to purchse....."aint old enough" somehow.

Someday......soon too. God Willing!

I didn't know you, Ora. Never met you. I only have Dad's stories of your childhood together in the 30s.  However, the same blood does run in my veins and we will hunt together......I promise.

Sorry to ramble.
God Bless

Slow

[Ted Fry]

Not sure but I think he was asking about old Yew bows, yes I agree , old yew bows ( over 30 yrs old) are best to leave hanging on the wall. Unless the bow has been used fairly regular like  it will most likely get brittle from lack of use. I have made and shot Yew selfbows for a few years now and have to admit, Yew can be a finicky wood , not very accepting of character like Osage is, not quite as durable either. However a well made Yew self bow sings when you shoot it.
Yew is a softer wood than osage and can be damaged very easily if mishandled.
Yes it is a good idea to wake the bow up by bracing the bow and flexing , first 1/4 draw , then 1/2 draw and on till your draw length is achieved.
Do I hunt with my Yew bow unstrung? No , I hunt all day with that bow strung and ready to shoot.
Have I noticed that it was effected by cold or hot weather? No!
I have hunted in very hot south Texas climate without loss of performance and although I was not hunting on this trip I did string up my bow and go out in the 45* below zero mercury just outside of Fairbanks to see if the Yew wood bow would blow up ( I too had heard the rumors).
I like to check on these before I believe them.
Now I have noticed a loss of performance on a sinew backed Yew bow in  hot weather but I attribute that to the sinew , not the Yew.
I have hunted with a Yew bow several times in cold snowing conditions both in Alaska as well as the Pacific North West and not had a problem, matter of fact I am still shooting this bow.
Now will I string up and shoot an old Yew bow made by Will Compton ? No , its just not worth it.
Most of the older Yew longbows were made in the old English style or the early American longbow ( narrow limb design)this I also attribute to several of the blowing up issues you read and hear about, that is why I prefer the Flatbow design, spread the tension and compression over a longer, wider area and you will have less problems.
I also prefer to apply a rawhide backing to help protect the soft sapwood from being damaged if dropped. Just my 2 cents.

[mullet]

That's why I love Osage.;=)

[Dave Bulla]

Do any of you all know or remember a fella named Jim Fetrow that used to post on the ***********???  He was from Oregon and old enough that he'd had the chance to have known some of the great names of pacific NW archers.  I'm thinking Chet Stevenson (?) was one of the names mentioned.

Well, Jim made a lot of pretty amazing claims about his yew bows to the point of being outright called a liar by lots if fellas with a lot less experience building bows and in many cases zero experience with yew bows and eventually got tired of defending himself and finally faded away from the internet.  I always pretty much believed most of what he said especially when he'd back it up with pictures.  I've seen several other "greats" run off by the BS and always felt the loss.  I expect that's part of why this forum got started and am glad for that but sure wish some more of those old farts (meant in the nicest way.  If you were around the forums back in the mid 90's you'll know what I mean.) would come back.

He did a lot of yew bow restorations for people.  Usually for free if you'd pay shipping.  I actually had this exact offer from him myself but I got impatient and messed with the bow myself and broke it.  I did get a chance to see a bow that he restored for someone else at mojam one year and it was amazing!  Might have been Doug Campbell or Tim Ott???

The main things I recall Jim saying about reviving an old yew bow (some were 100yrs plus) was to treat it like it had never been pulled, strip the finish, let it stabilize to the local climate (moisture) then he'd rub in warmed linseed oil (pretty sure about the oil but not 100%.  This has been maybe 12-14 years ago.) then very slowly over a period of days or weeks work back up to full draw.  Sounded like a heck of a lot of work but also a labor of love and a respect for old bows not unlike bowdoc shows us today with the Bear bows.  Anyway, I believe it really can be done if done properly.

I used to have Jim's email but no longer.  Sure would like to get in touch with him again if any of you know how.

[Larry m]

A good friend shoots several older Yew bows backed with rawhide made by Wally Miles. These bows shoot a heavy shaft very nice. I think the key is to inspect the bow and then as Mr. Fry states, "wake the bow up".

[horseapple]

Hello Dave Bulla my friend, Fetrow had and has a wealth of knowledge on yew bows, he knew what he was talking about as does Ted Fry, us Osage lovers just dont listen to good  

[Hud]

Here is a story about an English Yew War Bow, with stave supplied by Jim Fetrow.

Part I and Part II of the story.

  http://www.primitivearcher.com/articles/warbow.html  

  http://www.primitivearcher.com/articles/warbow2.html

[Hobow]

Hi guys,

I've been a lurker for a while and this post encouraged me to finally step up and contribute.  

I have a Homer Prouty yew bow that the original owner purchased new in 1939 and shot regularly until a year ago when he could no longer draw it comfortably and passed it along.  

I took the bow out to Ted at Raptor Archery and after a good eyeballing for any visual defects it was strung up and the limbs were warmed up by slowly drawing and releasing a couple of inches at first and working up to full draw.  Ted then took a couple of shots with the bow and I think that he was pretty impressed with it.

I have been shooting the bow semi-regularly ever since and it is one sweet shooter!  48#'s and 64"'s long.  The key factor is that it had been regularly used during it's life and stored properly, that along with a careful warm up before use has allowed this great bow to continue to shoot.  

I would then reason a guess that a properly cared for and regularly used yew bow should be good for at least 72 years...

I want to thank everyone for all the great information on this site.

Brad

 

[Hud]

Nice shape to the bow. Never could shoot without an arm guard myself.

[Hobow]

It's a beauty!  I'm pretty sure that I get away without an arm guard due to my lack of proper form, but I am working towards needing one!