Scottish Bow design

[oops sorry]

In the spring 2016 TradArchers World there is an article about Scottish self bows from a century or so back. There were several that had grooves in the back from tip to handle. Two smaller grooves or one larger. Why would a design benefit from this? thanks

[rainman]

Were they sapling bows?  Sometimes with sapling bows the interior of the bow and there will be a pithy center that is scraped out.  Hope this helps.

[oops sorry]

These looked to be well crafted self bows from the mid-1800's. I need to go back to the article but I know that yew was one of the woods. It just mystified me why someone would hollow out the back. I'll take another look to see if they might have been sapling bows....that's a good point. They were beautiful bows.

Then again, maybe its why the Scots are into golf.

[SportHunter]

Can you get permission to post a pic?

[oops sorry]

I have never tried posting pics here but I doubt that the feature that I am talking about would show up. The original pictures weren't all that clear.

[Pat B]

Do you have another name for this bow. I Googled "Scottish selfbow" and most of what I got was self tied Scottish plaid bow ties. There was also a little about selfbows in general.

[mikkekeswick]

I know a chap who has written various article on historic bows including the Scottish bows. From his research he concluded that a lot of Scottish selfbows were made from yew, were relatively short (60 inches) and were recurved.
there are quite a few pictures of these sort of bows being carried/used.
I made him a 'replica' yew recurve and he shot a video of him using it. It is on youtube.