This was my first attempt making a asymmetrical tillered bow, the second is the one I am currently working on for the trade. I made hickory bow for a friend of mine earlier this year and he found a pair of sturgeon skins and gave them to me. So I used them on this yew bow. The yew is from a tree I cut in 2010, it had some damaged sapwood, so I removed it. As much as I really like yew sapwood, I really enjoy heartwood only bows. This stave had some twist which was a struggle to get out, and manage to get the recurves lined up straight. I couldn't believe how tough sturgeon skin is; it takes tin snips to cut it while dry. I had a bit of a struggle getting then on. I first rawhide back the bow for most of the length with TB3, then I went to apply the surgeon skins after it was tillered with hide glue....I must have did something wrong because they blew off the bow with the sound of a bow breaking, remaining only attached at the grip. Like an idiot, I thought glueing them down with TB3 would be a good idea, hoping that hide glue and TB3 just might bond to one another, full well knowing they would. That ended with another bow breaking boom, minus the broken bow. I removed the sturgeon skins, soaked them and cleaned them well with dawn, removed the rawhide from the bow, and glued the skins down with TB3. Success!
It's 60" nTn along the curve, 55 lbs @ 26". The tips are african black wood. Any criticism of the tiller would be greatly appreciated.
