I made them the same size, and weighing
about eight pounds when drawn eight inches.
Shooting a little arrow on these bows, the sap wood shot forty-three
yards; the red wood sixty-six yards, showing the greater cast to be in
the red yew.
Corroborating this, Mr. Compton relates that while working in Barnes's
shop in Forest Grove, Oregon, during the last illness of that noted
bowyer, he came across a laminated bow made entirely of sap wood.
Barnes stated that he had constructed it at the instigation of Will
Thompson. The cast of this bow was slow, flabby, and weak. As a
shooting implement it was a failure.
Taking two pieces of wood, one white and one red, each twelve inches
long, I placed them in a bench vise and fastened a spring scale to the
top of each. Drawing the sap wood four inches from the perpendicular,
it pulled eight pounds. Drawing the heart wood the same distance it
pulled fourteen pounds, showing the greater strength of the latter.
When drawn five inches from a straight line, the red piece broke. The
sap wood could be bent at a right angle without fracture.
It is obvious from this that the sap wood excels in tensile strength
the red wood in compression strength and resiliency.
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