Just finished up my most recent project and, I think its fair to say, my personal best bow so far. This yew tree came from my friend’s property in eastern Oregon, and spent a bit of time around campfire as I figured out what to do with it. Combined with the charcoal stain job (thanks Pat B for the idea!) and I figured ‘Smoke’ fit the bow well. This tree had thick sapwood, 3/8” or so, and I was afraid I’d run out of heartwood before I got down to my weight, hence the ALB style.
Used some muley antler I found in Montana for the overlays – good juju? Its not exactly light in the hand with its length and the metal in the handle, but its smooth as can be and hits where I look. Puts a field point through 3/8" fiberboard too - looks like I need a new target backdrop!
This was my first takedown bow, I used brass/steel sleeves from Carson (thanks!) and they worked great once I'd wrestled them on and sanded them smooth. Speaking of wrestling, the billets were a bit of a pain to get matched tiller on, with the lower limb having a reflexed kink right out of the fades. Its not perfect now, but I’m ok with it. The limbs had some pretty good propeller twist, which I heated out, and I also needed several heating sessions to get limb alignment down. The bow doesn’t look straight unstrung, but when braced the string tracks just barely left of center. I’ll take it. All in all, a challenging but satisfying build for me and one that I hope will pay off with my first deer this fall. I’m already more accurate with this bow that any of my previous ones, and after getting a good set of arrows together and a summer of shooting them, I think I ought to be dead center on anything inside 20 yards!
Thanks for looking, and I hope spring reaches you all soon!
Specs:
50# at 26"
66" ntn, 1 3/8" wide at the fades tapering to 1/2" at the tips
27 oz total weight - 9.5 for sleeves, epoxy and handle wrap = 17.5 oz
17oz should be ideal according to the TBB v4 mass formula. I didn't weigh the bow at all until I finished it - pretty cool it ended up so close! This was fairly low density yew (growing in a primo spot with good soil by a creek), so I think that contributed to the fairly low weight, although possibly to the set as well.
Immediately unstrung, top limb has just under 1” of set. Bottom has maybe 1 ¼”
Money shot up front (excuse the random debris everywhere):
Billets:
Strung Profile:
Unstrung:
Really liking the charcoal stain. Just used rubbing alcohol and some charcoal from the fireplace.
Left some extra wood around this bad boy…
First time signing a bow, I used Misslemaster's 'scrimshaw' technique for everything except the 'B' - worked great!
Final, slightly blurry full draw profile shot:
