Guys,

For a longbow that has bamboo lams as the limb core, is there an advantage or disadvantage to using yew, instead of osage (or vice versa) for the outermost lams? And to be as clear as possible with my question, by "advantage", I mean, is there an appreciable gain in performance or durability associated with using yew or osage as the outer lams?

Thanks in advance for your valued opinions.

I like tonkin cane on the back and osage on the belly. There aren't many woods tougher than osage.

You might try osage on the belly side as its great in compression and Yew for the back to keep the overall wieght of the limb lighter.

I would encourage you to get yew. One of the important functions of bamboo is it's light mass weight, and as a result, it's ability to recover from full draw faster than some woods. Yew has a lesser mass weight than osage, and would be a better combination with bamboo. This may translate to a faster recovery over osage outer laminations depending on limb configuration.

Yes, osage is tough, and in a selfbow that has value, but once a wood is laminated under glass it doesn't really matter how tough it is.

Are you using glass in this bow?

Mike

I was told by a few Bowyers out there that it's all up to the limb core in a glass backed bow. The veneers are mostly for show.

Yaa if its just thin veneers I wouldnt sweat it much.

I thought maybe this was an all wood laminated bow possibly?

Some narrow deep core bows may have 4 lams that are somewhat thick.Like a Mohawk for example.In a bow like that you may want to consider your outer lams more carefully.Since thier not skinny veneers.

I have a Hill owl which is bamboo core and Osage outer and a long bowman's choice which is bamboo core and yew outer, can't tell a bit of difference in performance......stabow

The yew is purtier, use it!

Yew, osage is heavy and can add shock if there is more than a little in the limbs

I like bamboo for the tension side and for the core and yew for the belly(3 lam).  Yew is good in compression and in tension but bamboo is good in tension and lighter so bamboo backed yew is best.  Yew also looks really nice and if you don't like the look of bamboo you can put a snakeskin over it or use black glass.