I'm laminating up an English longbow. I have three laminations that are a little special. The first is a 10mm x 40mm piece of genuine Cuban Dagame with a history going back to at least 1963. The second, again from around 1963 is a 10mmx40mm piece of English Yew., the third, on the recommendation of Mr Hatfield, is a spectacular strip of Guadua Bamboo.

Now of course, the bamboo is the backing, but,should I use the Yew as the core and the Dagame as the belly or, use, the Dagame as the core and the Yew as the belly ?? ..

Which way round ??

I would use degame as the belly since yew doesn't like compression that much. At least that was the consensus on Pacific Yew. Never had English Yew.

I'm recalling from memory so don't write that down. ;). Someone with real bow making experience will be along shortly.

I believe Roy Day made this one yew, wenge and bamboo.

or this way round

still haven't laminated this yet... i'm with going bamboo backing, yew core, dagame belly, unless someone has other opinions.

Phil, didn’t Hugh Soar do some research that you could refer to? I personally would use the yew as a core from what I’ve read in the past, but I’m not a bowyer so take my opinion with a pound of salt!. Lance

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