I am fairly pleased with this throwing stick.  It is probably big enough to take down a deer, based on aboriginal measurements for taking down kangaroos.  It is quite hefty.  Made of yew, as the title suggests.  It took an outrageously long time to carve because I was unused to the wood, which is snaky, difficult and prone to all sorts of weird things...  but it looks great.  To me anyway.

I can give it a go.  I am a novice at this.  Matthias told me my other pictures are too big, and now I have gone for a serious case of overkill.  Sorry.

Just checked.  It seems it is not possible to resize the picture to make it bigger.  I'll try something else as well.

Here should be an up-close shot of the grain of the yew, at the handle.  It might be a bit blurred, rendering it a little useless.  But I may as well include it anyway.

Yew isn't rare, but yew straight enough for bows or, indeed, most things, is rare.  But there are plenty of yew trees.  I have a branch large enough for a northwest coast style bow - but the damn thing won't split.  I have tried everything, axes, wedges, knives, drawknives... it's a tough bugger.  Which bodes well for it's future as a bow.  Assuming I can get it there.  I'd love some Oregon yew from the Cascades, simply because it is authentic for native bows.  But I am content to have any yew.

Circular saw?  No, I can't do that, for the simple reason that I don't have a circular saw.  I have prepared some bigger wedges. It will split primitively or it won't split at all.  The stave is thick but short - if I manage to get it to split slightly, the whole thing should go.  In theory.  It's a good idea though, using the saw.

Hey, English! Nice looking kylie you got there, mate! I built one the other day, took it out to my university football field and threw it. I would have had more luck throwing my backpack or my Chemistry book. I made mine from red oak, which is readily available here in the states, and cut it about 70 centimetres long. Looked promising, sort of like a ghurka blade on the end of a hockey stick, but it flies like a lead balloon. Do both sides need to be bevelled or just one side, and does it need to have longitudinal grooves cut in the top? Anybody that has any ideas, I'd loove to hear them.
Jack

Ok, about throwing sticks....
  One end should be thicker than the other, whether the stick is straight or not.  You will notice the slight "bulb" on one of the stick in the picture.  If you look at the picture, you will see also that the edge you can see is bevelled, but remember that due to the sideways throwing motion of the stick, I think that the opposite side near the handle should also have a bevel - because that too is going against the air and trying to get through, so it is best to make it aerodynamic.  I can't explain that any other way, sorry, but think about it a bit.  Longitudinal grooves are not required.  I find that the easiest way to make a throwing stick is just to remember to get the necessary taper.  After you have that, the stick should fly straight and not flutter whether you have made it aerodynamic or not: the bevel just helps a lot.  This stick is heavy and therefore I need all the help I can get from any forces around in getting it properly airbourne.
  Returning boomerangs can be useful.  Aborigines used them in duck hunting, apparently - they would throw it into the air, and make a sound like a duck hawk, and the shadow overheard would cause the ducks to fly straight down and into previously set up nets.

Hi, I'm being a guest.  I am in a lesson at the moment, but I'm very bored.
Dude, it's a stick.  When you say things like "negative dihedral", you actually do get me confused.  I know that the stick needs certain things:  a weightier end, a slight bevel and a basically aerodynamic shape.  Beyond that, I don't know, but what I do know is that I can hit something with enough power to at least stun or if not then kill an animal, at about twenty or maybe even thirty yards.  The curve is important, but not actually essential, but the weightier head is very important.  It will flutter otherwise.  Maybe the problem is that you are thinking too much about the problem.   I sound a bit like a dunce at the moment.  Sorry mammothunter.
  If you want a stick that can kill something easily, and is easily made, then go for a regular, straight stick, and carve down so you end up with a "potato-masher" shape.  It's good to leave the bark on the "head."  They fly far and hit hard.  And that is what is important, above all else, even aesthetics.