Hi all,
Last weekend I finalized a bow for my 14 yo daughter. She's a real big fan of the movie series "The Hunger Games", in which the main character uses a series of different bows.
The bow I made for her is the first one that appears in the movie series, and from the resources I found, the bow turned out to be a fairly exact replica.
The bow is made from a yew tree branch, most of it being sapwood, seasoned over a 4 month period.
It is 56" long, initially hade a nice natural reflex in it, and turned out to be 50 pounds after I made it.. However, alas, this is way too heav for my daughter, and I brought the weight down all the way to 30 pounds now at 28". A draw length that she will not reach anyway, so at her draw length it's perfect now for her. She really enjoys it, although I still feel kind of bad about having to lower the poundage of this little shooter ...
I stained the almost white yew bow wood with ironacetate made from vinegar and steelwool. First I added tannin to the wood with strong tea.... then the ironacetate.. and this really worked like a charm. Lot of info on the web on staining wood this way.. but it was my first try. I finished the bow with 3 coats of Danish oil.
The bow's tiller came out just fine, and although I am used to shooting heavier bows, I must say it was great fun shooting it myself over the past few days. No handshock, fast and accurate.. given it's size and poundage.
The staining technique is something I will definitely try out more often, and I can highly recommend it to you to try this out somethime if you'd like to make a darker coloured bow from lighter coloured wood.
I am posting some pictures, just to share the result. It was a real fun project.
Let me know what you think?
Be well, Marcel
