This was my first bow I took all the way from cutting the tree to finished bow. It was a great feeling taking the bow through the entire process.
I cut the 4" diameter persimmon tree down, de-barked it (although I should have taken off more of the cambium), flattened the belly (although not down to bow dimensions), and then placed the stave between two cinder blocks with weight added in an attempt to dry some reflex into the stave. You'll notice I said nothing about coating the wood to prevent checking.
It checked. I decided to go for it anyway.
Here is the stave after curing:
After removing wood from the belly, it appeared the checks did not go all the way through the stave. I felt good enough to lay out the bow.
Here is the back with the cambium. It was a real pain to get the dried cambium off.
After getting the stave closer to bow dimensions I made some "bow stew" (as my wife calls it). I boiled the tips for 45 minutes before bending them. One tip bent perfectly, while the other raised a few splinters.
Here is the bow as I completed the tillering process:
And here is the bow after tillering and a long session of shooting. After resting it ends up halfway between the two:
Braced:
Full draw before final sanding and finishing:
The back at the handle. I left the bow wide and flat and kept it very simple. It was stained with a light "antique" stain.
The bow bends through the handle. The handle was left thin and deep and I added some cork to make it more comfortable. It is wrapped in flax.
Persimmon wood is very creamy. I love the way it looks. The stain added some richness to it. There are a few flecks of cambium that I didn't want to take out for fear of sanding too deeply.
The belly was unusual in that it took on a very dark tone in a couple of locations (before staining). Especially toward the tips. I don't know if it was due to the boiling, but I thought it added a pretty cool effect (totally unplanned).
Here is an inventory of the tools I used to make the bow (the machete is my scraper). The draw knife did the lion's share of the work.
The bow is 66" tip to tip and draws 42# @ 28". It is nearly 2" wide at the fades and was kept wide and flat. I loved making it and love the way it shoots.
