Replies

1. 
   tms | Feb 13, 2005 01:18am | #1

   Hi Andyo,

   The western yew that we have in my part of the world (Pacific Northwest, of USA), is beautiful and strong, but not particuarly hard. It's light and tough and used for making long bows. Bowyers in my area pay premium prices for suitable staves. I have found smaller pieces make wonderful handles for knives and chisels. It's hard to find larger dimensioned stock.

   Tom

1. 
   notDusty | Feb 14, 2005 07:30am | #4

                  Hi Tom ,

        I am under the impression that Yew is relatively hard, say compared to Cedar .  Bows and Cribbage boards  are what I have seen most of out of Yew wood . Down here in Oregon we call Yew wood 100 year fence posts  . Although it seems a terrible  waste for such a beautiful specie . When the bark was used to make Taxol (sp) the cancer drug people were going out in the wood and literally de barking live trees and leaving the trees to die , such GREED !

                               dusty

1. 
   tms | Feb 14, 2005 07:43am | #5

   Hey Dusty,I guess 'hard' is relative. I agree that yew is considerably harder that western red cedar. It is also softer than say, hickory, osage, or oak to compare it to a few other popular bow woods.BTW- I'm always on the lookout for yew. Anything from bow staves to wood for laminations. If you ever get a handle on some, let me know, there could be a bow in it for you.Tom

1. 
   notDusty | Feb 14, 2005 07:56am | #6

       Tom ,

              Hey thanks for the offer , I'm all over that one , I will ask a few of my firewood cutting pals to snag us some Yew and tell you more as it unfolds . We have family in the Puget Sound area that visits now and then so we can send it home with them . Does Yew grow up there ? Lastly , yup I totally agree hard is a relative term , and subjective as are many things in life .

                                  dusty

1. 
   tms | Feb 14, 2005 08:10am | #7

   Hey Dusty,Oh yea, yew grows well up here, but it's been pretty picked over. There are no trees bigger that about 6" dia. and it's near sacrilege to cut one down.I'm still planning on having a Northwest Knotheads get together at my shop. I'm hoping to be able to roast a pig and have the local folks bring some good eats to go with it. If you bring yew, you can leave the potato salad at home.Tom

2. 
   notDusty | Feb 14, 2005 09:11am | #8

                 O.K. Tom , Yew got it .

2. 
   jako17 | Feb 13, 2005 08:27pm | #2

   I have turned some and found it great .But need a mask as it irritates my breathing quite badly and generally I don't seem very sensitive except to Redwood

3. 
   DennisS | Feb 13, 2005 09:04pm | #3

   AndyO

   I second the mention of breathing protection. I have a nice log or PNW Yew given to me by a friend some time ago so did some research on Yew in general. While I didn't find anything specific to the PNW species, everything I found related to English yew stressed the fact that any and all parts of the yew were toxic.

   It takes a very nice polish, at least the specimen that I have.

   ...........
   From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
   Dennis