Longbow Vs Spaghetti

Is there any way you know of to check for flaws in the wood Del, or you just hope for the best and test thoroughly....I noticed you said something about seeing the hole on your blog...

Those videos were amusing. Do bug holes flaw your bows frequently, or was this just an unfortunate incident?

I was lucky to be given the billets of high altitude Oregon Yew. I was hopeing to compare it against the English Yew I normally use.
On close inspection I saw the grub holes, we don't get 'em in the UK, and I had read that Yew being toxic, didn't suffer from such infestations. It just goes to show that you can't believe all you read. This was just a try out with the two runtiest stave just to see if I could get a bow out of the wood in it's natural state.
I shall have to remove the sapwood from the other billets and back the bows with other wood e.g Hickory, bamboo, American white Oak etc.
But of course this means I won't get a real comparison of High altitude fine grained Yew against the coarser grained UK stuff.
There is a lot of talk about how the fine grained stuff is superior, but I wanted to see for myself.
In short, it was a calculated risk, which didn't come off, but at least gave a definite result!
Del

Do longbows always break into three or more pieces? Inquiring minds want to know....

Nope, sometimes they just crack like a greenstick fracture.
Del

In the video, I notice two "ripples" about where the bow appears to break...I did not notice these in the first video. Redistribution of stresses after the "cracking" sound?

The belly of the bow (underside when itis on that tiller rig) has had some work done on it in between the two videos to weaken the left limb which isn't bending much in the first video.
The ripples are there in the grain of the wood and I've probably just followed them a bit more so they show up.
The bow was drawing about 22" at 45 pounds. I was aiming for 28" at about 45# so there was still quite a bit of wood to remove. Tillering a bow is a slow process of removing wood to maintain the correct curve at full draw weight (or near), whilst slowly watching the draw length increase.
The pic of the break shows how it actually snapped right along a hole, you can see the smooth concave curve of the inner face of the hole along the whole break.

Del

So, you reckon that Cuban vaulting pole was made from Yankee Yew? Saboteur worms....

You mentioned in your bow maker's musing that you where contemplating the procurement of a table mounted belt sander, linishing belt....

What I have done when I've needed such is to mount my portable belt sander upside down in the jaws of a "Black and Decker Workmate". Works a treat and doesn't clutter the shop's floor space.

...not wanting to tell you how to suck eggs mate.....

Good idea.
I'd seen a home brew linisher but it looked like a lot of work.
As I'm short of room in my garage, that might be a great space saving idea.
I'm not sure how long a belt is best for my bowmaking.
I've got an old Workmate of course, so I'll have to weigh up the pro's and cons, cost.
Cheers
Del