Before the beginning

It always starts with an idea that won't go away.

To begin with... I have been practising archery for about a month now, so I am certainly a beginner archer. I have also been attempting to craft bows since January 2013, and yesterday was my first success, more or less. That means I am also a beginner bowyer.
However i've wanted to be an archer and a bowyer for a long time. It's one of my little fixations, but unlike many others that came and went, emptying my pockets and leaving me with little to show for it, this one stayed with me.
Perhaps because this was my own idea, all mine, and i've grown it and consolidated it in my head for years without ever doing anything about it. So now it's time.
My first four bow attempts were failures. It's standard, I had already accepted it even before starting. With the first one I had no idea what i was doing (although i thought i did)... which reminds me that i still have no idea. Anyway, yesterday I finally built a bow that works (the fifth one), a bamboo-ironbark 2-laminate, 40# at 28". It works. I shot an arrow at a table and it buried itself in the sucker and wouldn't come out.

But all this is before the real beginning.
This blog's purpose is to document what i've always wanted to do since the start; that is, to build a self Yew longbow. My own Yew longbow. Now, finally, i can. I've got the yew, i've got the tools, the will and the time. I am using a blog so that should i like to go back to this in a few years, and amuse myself with the mistakes I will undoubtedly make day by day, i can do so. I can also receive comments from any readers with more experience, who will be able to advise me and answer my questions. I am hoping so, not counting on it.

Self yew longbow, because it is what the legends are made of. It is history, tradition, nature, beauty, and a touch of magic all in one. What other material can claim the properties of Yew- a sapwood that is elastic and strong in tension and a heartwood resistant to compression, all in one, light but tough? What other bow has decided the outcome of entire battles? It is as though the yew tree was designed specifically for bow-making, and that the longbow should be made of yew or undeniably destined to be second-class.

Well, two beautiful yew billets from Oregon have arrived and we're ready; tomorrow we start.

Taxus Brevifolia