In celebration of a special little friend's birthday and in conjunction with my bow building addiction here it is.
Named Stryder, 20# @ 20". This is the first bow from a massive yew, of which i figure there is 25+'s bows.
The handle was my pride and joy on this one, I used hide glue and sinew for the first time, both of which are amazing materials, I carved and strapped on a yew wood arrow rest, which turned out great.
For the back, I peeled the bark fresh and left as much cambium as possible, I then scrapped and oxidized alder bark and boiled it down to make a dye, the result is a beautiful red on the back of the bow, i only did one coat so it could have been darker. It is a nice change from the stark white of the others.
The bow took a massive set, the first being that it was pretty green when I started, second when steaming the handle to align the tips, i strung the bow and bent it sideways while strung. Third being while shooting it in, I pulled it pretty far, probably about 25" and I do have a compression failure at the fade on the upper limb.
It's fun to shoot and he likes it, so that's what counts. The string for now is a leather shoelace, but I will replace it soon, before it has a chance to break..
enjoy,
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