Elm Deflex-Recurve

[BL]

I worked on this bow a little at a time over the past year or so.  It's for my wife to shoot when the weather warms up.  The elm stave was cut from her grandfather's farm about two and a half years ago.

68" tip to tip before the curves were bent.  1 3/8" at the flares out to 1/2" the last 8" all static.  Tried to get the handle working just slightly.
30#@28" -  Right around 13oz. before wraps and grip work.
Between 1/4" and 1/2" of follow after unstringing and 1/4" of reflex rested.
Heat-treated several times during the whole process.  Handle deflex done with steam.  Tips recurved with the heat gun.  String bridges (CA glued on and soaked wrap) and tip overlays are mulberry.  I tried to go without the bridges but the string kept slipping off the side and torqued the heck out of my alignment.
Paint is black over color spray acrylic (blasphemy!) with a stencil I designed and cut.  Coated the whole shebang with spray spar urethane. 

Critiques appreciated.  Thanks for looking!

[BOWMAN53]

Man is this post gorgeous bow day or what.

[JW_Halverson]

For starters, most of us wish you would not make us look so bad. 

Because: 1) Most of us have failed to produce anything that looks that dang smooooooth
2) That same "most of us" now don't dare let our wives/girlfriends/daughters/whatever see that bow or they will expect similar from us.  That's one dark, cold, crowded, uncomfortable doghouse you are putting us all in!

Thanks for raising the bar so high we'll all have to chip in to rent time on the Hubble telescope to see it!

[adams89]

beautifull Bow, i bet it's fast! i'm also working on an elm static and i must say i love elm and yours looks great!

[Del the cat]

Nice bow, it has a hint of that Egyptian bow look to it...
Cool
Del

[nazghul]

wowww... very impressive! wonderful curves!!!
that is my first post here...     

[Mark Smeltzer]

That is really cool, and the art work!!

[IdahoMatt]

Very clean work.  I can't wait to se more of your projects.  I really like it

[dbb]

Beautiful bow and awesome artwork on it too.
Bet it get you some bonuspoints with the wife 

[Will H]

Stunning bow you've made there! Thanks for sharing!!!

[ohma2]

Stunnlng, gracefull, elegant, I could go on ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[BL]

Thanks everyone for the compliments!  You sure know how to make a guy feel like he knows what he's doing.

Bowman53 - It's just my luck I have to post this the same day Marc and Gordon and a few others put up their latest.  I think they are putting the rose-tinted glasses on us all for the day!

JW - Now that's some really high praise!

adams89 - It shoots OK with what I've got, but I need to get her some proper arrows for it.  All I own right now are some big-box aluminum 400's.  Good luck on your static!

Del - I'll be reading up on your site once I hit the yew stave explosion in my front yard.

nazghul - Welcome to the forums!

MDS65 - She is inspiring!

Matt - Hopefully it won't take me another year to finish the next one.

dbb - The smile on her face was worth it.

Will - I've learned so much from the forums I hope I can contribute.

ohma2 - So it suits the recipient.   

[ajooter]

Awesome detail work! Very nice bow...im SURE she loves it!

[Badly Bent]

Killer bow! Looks flawless from profiles to artwork to finish to smooth tiller, a real standout piece of work.

[Marc St Louis]

Very nice bow. 

You could do without the bridges by filing a string groove down the center of recurve that finishes where the string leaves the wood.