Yew Wood - any suggestions/comments

[jtate]

A friend has asked me to make pens from a two or three year old piece of yew that he saved from a tree from his yard. It'a a branch of less than 4 centimeters so I don't see amy way to avoid having some pith. It is about 18 inches long, though so I have enough to work with.

Should I consider diagonal cuts or maybe a segmented design to accomodate the fact that I can't get all the body from one side or the other of the pith?

Julia

 

[chitswood]

Drill the hole directly on top of the pith and it'll be gone right?

 

[jtate]

Yes, If I drill right through the very center of the piece, that will get rid of the pith. If I do that, however, am I placing the pen at risk of splitting if the wood shrinks and I've put in a tube where I drilled it? Bear in mind that the stick's a few years old and been stored inside the house. I hope that means it's dry as a bone and already done all the shrinking that it's going to do.

Does Yew have a tendency to shrink/split/check/change in not pleasant ways?

Your wisdom is appreciated.

Julia

 

[GBusardo]

I have done what Chitswood says on holly and cherry and didnt have any problems ...so far
Gary []

 

[wayneis]

I would cut it at an angle, the grain pattern will be more pleasing to the eye that way. One way to plan when cutting up a large piece of wood is to take a piece of card stock and cut a whole in it the size of a pen blank and then hole that hold over the wood and slide it around until you find the best area for grain line up.

Wayne

 

[Dario]

Not much room to do an angle cut on 4cm...do as Darick suggested and you'll be fine.

Not sure how yew is shrinking wise but that size and 2-3 years...it should be very dry (if it was kept in damp place...then you should have a mush now).

 

[JimGo]

If you're really worried about the moisture content, you can always do the microwave or DNA drying techniques.

 

[jthompson1995]

I agree with Dario that 4 cm is pretty tough for angle cut, though it would look neat. Maybe if you did half-blanks[?]. I haven't liked the results I've gotten when I put the tube where the pith was; I don't think you get to see the grain well enough because the rings will run around the perimeter of the pen and not through it so you won't get the contrast between the summer and winter growth. You didn't mention what kind of pen you were looking to make but 4cm is pretty close to 1.5" dia. and if you were to split the limb down the center you would get rid of the pith when you turn it. You would end up with 2-3/4" thick blanks that should be useable with many different pen styles and would show of the grain of the yew. If you have enough to play with, you might want to try a couple different ways.