she said she wanted "a pretty recurve, that is easy to shoot". I don't know how this stave escaped my notice, a couple months ago when i started working with this yew. Comparatively speaking, it is free of knots. But it is almost evenly ridged, as the pictures show, and i think it kinda looks like batwings. This one being for Helen, you can make of that what you will!
It's 62 or 64 inches in length, can't recall, and pulls 40# @ 28". Helen is a few inches shorter than me, i think, so she will probly pull it to 25 or 26. I am sad to say this bow has a serious flaw. Maybe i won't even give it to her, just hide it and make another. It has a thin spot just out of the lower limb's recurved section, which was just how the stave came off the log. To compensate, i left that part wider than i would have, but still it bends overmuch, especially in comparison to the other limb, where the single large knot in the bow stiffens the bow as you will see.
Even so, it shoots arrows pretty fast and is easy to shoot. Is it pretty? I think so...but i like Mine better!
She and i have never shot together. But this woman is damn competitive! We play foosball all the time and she kicks ass! She'll probly be a fine archer.
The bow was recurved in the same form that i used in recurving the bow for her father. It gives the stave a natural deflex/recurve which gives an easy draw and a fast release. She's gonna love it.