Swiss Yew Longbow

Skyfox

New member
Was lucky to have received some yew saplings or branches. 4 to 6 cm diameter. As I trained on various and funnily bent wood pieces like ash, hazel, willow and fir, I really fell in love with working with yew. With 37,2# at 29" this became my first selfmade bow over 30# which has been my target weight for a long time😅. The length is 74,8" (190 cm).
20191003_110209.jpg
More pics to follow...
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Well done... it's surprising what a relatively skinny bit of Yew will do. Hopefully you'll be able to find some bigger stuff to work with.
Del
 

Skyfox

New member
Thanks Del for the kind comment! With a little bit of will, one can make a bow out of any kind of wood. Some will be rather week but they still work for a beginner. Worse wood will develop chrysals, but even that won't destroy a bow. One of my experimental hazelwood bows has frets all over the belly and real cracks from too much heat bending. But it still lives and I continue to give it an extra hard time, just to see what a weak bit of wood can take.
Yew on the other hand is just cool to work with. No chrysals at all and not much set/string follow. It wasn't straight from the beginning, and the slight 'S'-shape kept me from heat bending it.
From top:
20191003_112852_resized.jpg
The side:
20191003_112916_resized.jpg
One of the tips:
20191003_105531_resized.jpg
 

Skyfox

New member
The measurements of this bow are:
Width in cm:
Middle 3.1, tip shoulder 2.1, tip 1.0
Thickness in cm:
Middle 2.7, tip shoulder 1.6, tip 1.4

From middle to tip shoulder the width and thickness gradually reduce, give or take a bit due to the shape of the stave itself.

The set is now a 1 finger wide gap below the middle of the handle with the tips on a level surface, after some 3D parcours and many an arrow in training sessions.
 

Skyfox

New member
So, the next work is in progress. Another yew branch, but much harder and very bent.
As I have to heat bend it I don't target a high draw weight, and it is also not that long.
 

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Skyfox

New member
And here how it looks a little straighter. Measurements will follow when they become clearer...😁
20191016_204520_resized.jpg 20191016_204501_resized.jpg
 

Skyfox

New member
Finally, it is almost finished. Brace height is reached, the string made, the arrows shoot nicely, but the draw weight came down to about 19#-ish. This was the toughest bow to make so far for me because of many knots and a very curvy stave.
 

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