Firstly, many thanks to the folks who helped me till this out, I am very happy with how this bow has turned out.
The stave sat in the corner of the shed for over a year because i didn't think there was a bow in it. It had a big knot with questionable grain, but once i pulled it out and carved away at that area i was left with a nice stave.
It is 62 inches tip to tip. Tight grained yew from a blow down, still the same tree as the rest of my bows have been from. I think this is number 8 for this tree from me, plus what i traded away. Sinew backed with three courses of leg sinew, that i got in a trade from RyanO, thanks. great sinew and nearly as long as the back sinew from the little deer around here. I stopped the sinew about 5 inches from the tips. The tips are flipped slightly with the heat gun, and also used the heat gun to temper the belly before the sinew went on. I'm proud to say this is the first bow i've built which holds unstrung reflex, I'll measure it, but i'd say an inch after rest and near zero immediately after shooting and unbraced. The tip overlays are cow horn from my roommates pile of primitive materials, thanks jeff. I was most impressed with horn, it smells a bit funny which shaping but it is incredibly hard and the colour of these is neat. kinda peachy and almost glows when light passes through. The last 8 inches of the tips are covered in black cobra snake skins that i got in a trade with adam. thanks. The skins were 44 inches long, so i've still got a full 36 inches for the next bow. This was the first time doing skins and I think they turned out great. I used homemade hide glue, and this glue was so strong that when i dried it in a glass pie plate, it pulled splinters off of the bottom, now that is strong. the thread wrap is red silk to cover the transition from sinew to snake skins. I thinned the sapwood down a bit 1/4 inch or so.
The bow bends through the handle and pulls 48 pounds at 27 inches. I shot it a bunch yesterday and was very impressed. The name preh is a play on words with 3 meanings. The first, I live in Powell River or P.R. canada, eh. The second is this will likely be my hunting bow this fall in search of prey, unless i build something i like better before then, and of course, respect to the creator and the animal at the moment of truth.
The handle was a quickie, and i'll see if i like it. nice thick leather with a floppy rest. I was tempted to wrap piece to the belly to build up the handle, but by this point i was a bit impatient to be done. The strike plate is cobra skin again, but if it doesn't hold up, i'll switch it off for a thin piece of horn.
The pics are in random order, and let me know if there's any other you'd like to see. I'm going to get an unbraced pic soon.
cheers,
Jamie
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