Heh guys,
This is a bow I finished back in January. It is a D-bow made of Pacific Yew, 64" ttt, 62" ntn, 35#@28". I made in this during an attempt to make a bow for my uncle and this truly is 'Plan E'. Plan A was a leather backed red oak board stave that I killed by trying to string it up to early, broke below the handle on the lower limb. Plan B was a red elm stave that I let the limb tip on the lower tip become too thin and it broke off during tillering, still a salvage bow in it but not if you want an unbacked stiff handled bow that pulls 28". Since then Plan B has had a setback steamed into the handle and I'm to sinew back it at a later date. Plan C, a Black Hawthorn stave, a piece of wood peeled off the back while floor tillering, thought I could fill in the gap with glue, sand it smooth, back the bow with rawhide, and continue. That didn't work so that stave is waiting for me to devote my time to it. Plan D, an unbacked red oak flatbow, it came out way too light, less than 20 lbs at 28", so that bow has since been shortened to 60" and recurved, awaiting a backing of sinew at a later date. This was Plan E and I decided to pull out one of my yew staves and make a D-bow to see if could get a 55#@28" bow like my uncle desired. Well, I made a bow, but once again, it was too light. However, my friend's girlfriend said she'd take it so the bow became hers. At her draw length the bow is 29 lbs, which she could more than handle, which is good because when me and all friends hang out, sometimes we shoot bows and arrows and all of my bows are too heavy for her, so now she has her own. At the time I am writing this, I have finally succeeded at making the bow that's worthy to give to my uncle. Plan E was finished in three coats of blonde shellac, basic wrapped black leather handle (I'm thinking brown would've looked better), calf hair strike plate, I made 2 B-55 Polyester endless strings for it, and its current owner got a half dozen arrows with it too. I really liked the bow except that it was rather light but I would've kept it if no one else wanted it. There was a touch of handshock upon release and when I look at the bow's tiller I think I still have much to learn. Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks for looking,
Aaron