Yew Recurve Build-Along

[Stixnstones]

Great build along and real nice lookin bow

[BowEd]

Thanks for taking us along on your build[no set tillering included].Many on here love this type of bow.I like it and that's a very fine bow in my opinion with the added details to it.Congratulations.

[Aaron H]

Great work so far

[Will B]

Great job on everything.  Thanks for taking the time to document it.  Very helpful

[High-Desert]

After being so busy lately with work, I finally got back to working on the bow. It did take a while to decide on what skins to use for the backing. I have a bunch of Pacific rattlesnake skins, none of which match each other very well, so I decided to use the skins I got from Cipriano in a trade. The skins were a bit over 50" long, and I only needed 28", so I cut them down. With 20" left over that I will be able to do a partial backing.
I got the back dyed with some black leather dye a few weeks ago, so its good and dry.
To match the tip overlays, I soaked the skins and cut the tips to match. I returned the skins to water, and coated one limb with some TBII, and dipped my fingers in water and rubbed on the back of the bow to thin the glue out a bit. By doing this, I have had fewer issues with glue bubbles under the skin.
I normally do not wrap the skins with ace bandages, but this skin did not want to lay down like most, so I wrapped the recurved areas, and continued working the skins down with my fingers, then finished the wrapping.

[High-Desert]

After 15 minutes, I unwrapped the ace bandages to prevent them from leaving an ace bandage pattern on the skins.
 Before wrapping, I had used a razor to cut the skins close to the bow.
After about 1.5 - 2 hours, I use 150 grit sandpaper stapled to a piece of lath, and at a steep angle, pushing down and towards the tips, I trim the skins to fit.

[Hawkdancer]

Where did you have the branding iron made?  I like that idea!
Hawkdancer

[High-Desert]

There is a place online called Shapeways. This one is actually designed to hook to a lighter, but I don’t see a lighter getting it hot enough. I think they are around $25-30 for a custom shape.