been reading and watching online articles on how to make longbows from yew for years and it’s only now that i found out yew trees are somewhat toxic. i found out when someone gave me a 3-inch diameter bow-quality stave which to work with. online sources say the poison is taxine, that the most poisonous parts are the leaves and berries. munch on a few handfuls of the leaves and you’re gone, it says. however, online testimonies vary. some amateur bowyers say they got sick working with the wood (from sawdust inhalation to splinters lacerating the skin.) others say they’re worked with yew for years and never had any problem. there’s this john-jay rambo on youtube who makes yew bows in his house. one wood turner, who makes drinking cups and coffee mugs from solid blocks of wood, says his yew coffee mug never gives hims trouble and he drinks from it quite often (must be a b|tch to clean and dry though.)
my yew stave is presently wrapped and bound in plastic sheets inside the garage. i even used gloves to handle it. yep, feeling somewhat paranoid.
Can’t be that toxic. I’ve cut some up and worked it a bit without ill effects. That said, individual sensitivity, often quite severe, to different woods is not unheard of. Take some precautions (wear a dust mask when you’re cutting, for example), and go slowly at first and see if you have any reaction. If you do, stop.
I thought it was eating the leaves that you really have to worry about which seems unlikely to be something you could do by accident.
As far as I understand it Yews were always traditionally grown in grave yards because you don’t want them to grow anywhere where livestock can snack on the leaves. You still see lots of Yews in graveyards in the UK.
yes, sheep and cattle have died from ingesting the leaves. funny there’s little mention of this in general reading sources. the hundred years war must have made yew a strategic commodity. soldiers (and according to mike loads, much of the male citizenry) were required to practice archery once a week. i suppose the poison leaves and berries has always been a no-brainer to them. i’m curious with regard to the bark, sapwood and heartwood which i’ll be handling.
I can certainly see the logic of planting Yews in graveyards to keep livestock away from them. Yew was an essential product during the middle ages so it does make sense to me that they found some way to grow it and keep livestock away from it.
I have also heard the scared explanation though. Possibly the truth is a mix of both.
Yews are slow-growing, long-lived trees (often older than the churches with which they are associated). I doubt anyone in the middle ages (or before) ever planted them as a timber crop - people planted yews and people cut down mature yews, but almost certainly not the same people and not for the same reasons
I don’t know the exact species of Spanish yew (which used to be exported to England back in the time of the 100 years war), but its wood is often used to make spoons and bowls as well as purely-decorative items. Nowadays the bowls tend to be mostly decorative; the spoons, on the other hand, are daily-use in many households.
And mac, a yew item is washed and dried exactly as a ceramic or metal one that you were washing by hand (putting wood items in the dishwasher is not a good idea unless the wood is specifically treated for that).
actually, i was once given a turned mug made from oak. i used it for everything from stews to coffee and even brandy. i liked the feel and the thermal properties but i just had to wash it well right after and sun-dry it. also best kept in cupboards when dry.
The soft sticky red aril surrounding the fairly large seed is supposedly edible - produced so that birds will eat the whole thing then deposit the undigested seed elsewhere - which works because birds have a fairly rapid digestive transit.
What is edible for birds isn’t necessarily so for humans. In this specific case, many claim they are safe to eat. I haven’t been brave enough to try yet.
