Quote Originally Posted by JohnP View Post
Yew is a beautiful wood for a bow, though.

John P.
But fickle.
I once talked with a bowyer, and these days it's hard to get good quality yew.
Making a good self bow instead of a multi-wood takes an incredible amount of skill. And with the questionable yew quality, it is very possible they'll shatter after the first few draws.

The bowyer I talked to told me that he charges a lot more for a yew self bow, because he guarantees against manufacturing defects. Sometimes a yew bow shatters to pieces at the first draw, so then he is out of the money for the yew, and he lost $$$ in work.