My first bow!

I finished my first bow a few weeks ago and have just found this part of the forum so I thought I post some pics of my yew longbow. I'm really happy with how it has turned out eg. it works and hasn't snapped yet :yummy: It shoots about 110yds. However there are a few "issue's" with it. Firstly it has devolped some quite nasty looking cracks near the handle, I presume that they are because I didn't seal the ends of the billets when I cut them? I've since got a copy of the Bowyer's Bible so won't be doing that again! Also the split at the nock is worrying me a bit, it was my fault because I didn't finish the nocks properly (still haven't!) and a few fiber's of the string caught as I was de-tensioning it :blush: anyway any advice would be welcomed and I might put a quick video of me shooting it on tomorrow
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myownslave

New member
to post images looks like your links arent quite right. for each image it has to have first and last
for each image then the web address with no spaces from end to end between
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Interesting take down construction.
The wood doesn't look much like Yew... maybe the colour rendition from the camera isn't right, and I can't see the heart wood / sap wood differentiation?
Can you give us an idea of it's length & draw weight. I'm assuming it's quite light as its a take down?
How big was the log you cut it from? Did you leave the sap wood on? It's usually very obvious white/cream sap wood and orangey/red/brown heart wood.

I saw an bow the other day which some one bought off E-Bay... it professed to be Yew, but appeared to be made of nearly all sap wood, it shot like a pudding :(.
Del
 
Interesting take down construction.
The wood doesn't look much like Yew... maybe the colour rendition from the camera isn't right, and I can't see the heart wood / sap wood differentiation?
Can you give us an idea of it's length & draw weight. I'm assuming it's quite light as its a take down?
How big was the log you cut it from? Did you leave the sap wood on? It's usually very obvious white/cream sap wood and orangey/red/brown heart wood.

I saw an bow the other day which some one bought off E-Bay... it professed to be Yew, but appeared to be made of nearly all sap wood, it shot like a pudding :(.
Del
Believe me it's defo yew! I know what you are saying about the definition between heart and sapwood but it's just the finish I put on it? I used some stuff we had in the shed, it's called "brushing wax", and I won't be using it again! The length is 67 inches and draw weight has yet to be measured? I'm off to buy some scales and some scraper's tomorrow so i'll let you know, draw length has settled somewhere around 29 inches (because I don't dare pull it any further!). The log I cut it from was about 6 inches diameter and about was 6 ft long but when I split it there was quite a pronouced twist towards one end so I decided to cut the "bad" end off and make it two piece. I used the steel tubing as I didn't trust myself to make a decent splice? If you look closely you should be able to see the sap wood, I thinned it down a little but since reading the bowyer's bible I realise I probably shouldn't have bothered! What I would like to know is if the lengthways cracks are dangerous? eg are they likely to get bigger? I've got a fair bit of yew drying at the moment in the shed and i'm itching to have another go and this time with the knowledge i've gained I should be able to make a better job of it! At least my next one will be better finished!
 
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