Kid's bow for a school fundraiser

[Weylin]

The Montessori school where I teach and where my son goes is having a silent auction of handmade crafts as a fundraiser. I decided to make a bow to donate with a couple arrows and a few hours of my time at the range to give some lessons.

The bow is vine maple. It is 46" nock to nock and it pulls 20# at 20". It is stained with leather dye and finished with tru-oil buffed to a satin finish. The handle wrap is leather with leather lace and the string is fastflight. It shoots hard and fast for it's size. (I'm a little scared to hand it to some kid I don't know, it really sends an arrow!) It was fun to make and I always have a little too much fun shooting in kid's bows. I had it all stained and finished and I went to string it up and the tiller was wayy off. the bottom limb was doing way too much work. It had looked fine on the tree before I finished it. I was pretty bummed out. I scraped through my finish and evened out the limbs and got the tiller looking much better but it really goes to show how sensitive these little bows are, I feel like you can sneeze and change the tiller on these buggers.

Any advice that people have about giving kid's bows to strangers would be helpful. I want it to make some kid happy not have someone get shot or have the bow break on them. I plan on giving the parents explicit written warnings and instructions as well as the one on one lesson (which is really more for the parent than the kid). Anyway, here's the bow, I hope you like it. My son, Ronan is my enthusiastic model. (He's a little over-bowed. He's not even 4 yet and I made this bow to be for 5-10 year olds.)

[steelslinger]

I really like the finish on this bow. I really enjoy making kid bows, I have so many great memories learning how to shoot with my dad. Must be why I have made more kids bows than anything else.

[richardzane]

wow...that is a beaUTIFUL FINISH on that lil bow. leather dye? feathering from black to brown?
I sure hope the lucky parents realize what a nice bow that is and make sure its cared for.

 grandsons are here visiting and one has been zinging short arrows with a little plain jane hackberry i made for him
so yeah its great (but scary!) kids and their bows ..somehow most of us survived childhood though.

[Bryce]

VERY! Well done sir! Excellent blending on the dye! Lovely in all aspects.
I think we need to get you more Vinemaple.

[portlandfire]

   Really nice!  The finish on that is the best!  I know I would bid on it.
Dave

[ionicmuffin]

Weylin you make it look so easy! now i HAVE to get me some VM! That bow is truly a wonderful work of art, you obviously put a lot of time and effort into making a beautiful bow for the fundraiser!

[ssgtchad]

Nicely done sir nicely done! I love that finish

[DuBois]

I love that bow! I gotta make a kids bow (on purpose) someday. Good luck on the funds.

[johnfolchetti]

That really is eye catching.....lovely job. Hope it does good for the school auction.

[JonW]

Very cool gesture man. That finish is awesome.

[blackhawk]

Sweet dye job n finish work

[autologus]

Wow that is a super bow, the finish is superb.

Grady

[arklowrebel]

Great job!  That bow looks terrific. 

[Trapper Rob]

Nice bow & the finish looks good.
Rob

[Weylin]

Thanks for all the really kind words! 

I put way more work into the stain and the finish than I would on a normal kids bow. I know my son was jealous when he saw it; his bow is nowhere near that cool looking.

We'll see how the auction goes. If it looks like it's going to sell for a low bid, I'll buy the damn thing!