Stuff and a little progress

 

I got the Yew heartwood backed with bamboo and glued up with about 1 3/4" of deflex. I've cut in temporary nocks on the sides so I can see how it flexes. I've pulled it to about 110# with the tips barely coming back to brace. Bearing in mind that if I add 10" levers to each end, that will substantially reduce the poundage... I'm not sure how to accurately calculate it, but if I assume a 20" working limb and a 10"

lever, that will give me some idea,  so 110 should become about 73# 2/3. Another guestimate would be that removing an inch off each end of a bow gains 5#... so presumably adding an inch reduces poundage by 5#... so 10" should take off 50# which would give 60#.
So maybe it would become somewhere between 60 and 73#. Of course it was only pulling back a few extra inches on the long string, so I can loose some weight, which is fine especially as there is some pith showing on the belly which would be nice to get past. This is only very early in the build, so I have plenty of bulk to play with!

Meanwhile I'v had to change the 3-way valve in the central heating, as the radiators were getting hot even when the thermostat was turned right down (the water should only be going to the heat the hot water supply, but it was going to the radiators as well). Now I  can fit a new one without draining the system, as I have appropriate shut off valves, but I still needed to move a lot of stuff, including my little milling machine... well, to be honest, I didn't really, but I thought it was a good idea to flush out the hater heating coil in the hot water cylinder, as that had got clogged up before. A rather messy job, but worth doing, even if it just reassured me that it wasn't too clogged. I also cleaned out the magnetic sludge catcher, which certainly needed cleaning. So a job well done, and it gave me some much needed exercise.
I've also been repairing the Deer sculpture that I made my wife 15 years ago for a "big" birthday... doesn't seem possible that it's that long ago, mind it's stood up to the weather quite well.