An Old Bow Gets a Second Life - Yew Longbow with Rawhide 55#@27"

[Weylin]

This was maybe my fifth or sixth bow that I made. I had just gotten into bow making so my dad had brought me some old yew staves that he had cut in California around the time I was born. They had been seasoning for almost 30 years. I made a bow for him, a bow for my wife and this bow for me. I used John Strunk's yew longbow build from the Traditional Bowyer's Bible. It was a bit heavy at 65# and I didn't shoot it much. It sat, largely unused on by bow rack for years while I built and shot other bows. Recently I dusted it off and put some arrows through it. It started a tiny crack on the back at a pin knot cluster so I decided to back it with rawhide and give it a facelift. First I brought the weight down to 55#. I replaced the tip overlays and added some kangaroo rawhide on the back. I stripped off the finish and replaced the handle wrap with a new strunk style wrap. I'm really glad to have this bow back in service and flinging arrows.

[Arrowbuster]

  Good looking bow, tiller looks great too.

[helmet]

Second try at posting! Cool Weylin, I remember seeing that bow before the face lift. It looks great man the color of the yew is great. I am curios what glue you use on the rawhide?

[Weylin]

Thanks, Arrowbuster!

Thank you, helmet. It is a nice piece of yew. I'm glad I got it back in service. I used titebond II on this one. titebond III works too I just don't like the darker color.

[Hawkdancer]

Good job!  Goes to show us old farts still got a lot of vim and vigor!  Glad to see the old bow back n service! !
Hawkdancer

[Knoll]

Revitalization appears to be success. Handle wrap is an eye-catcher. Congrats!

[bjrogg]

Nice resurrection Weylin. That yew really is beautiful
Bjrogg

[osage outlaw]

Nice restoration!

[Eric Krewson]

Looks to me like the bottom limb is stiff out of the handle, hingy at mid limb and has stiff tips. The top limb looks good.

[Thunderlizard]

Awesome

[ohma2]

Just curious ,where do you get the roo raawhide? Good lookin bow .

[Weylin]

Just curious ,where do you get the roo raawhide? Good lookin bow .

From a kangaroo... 
I got it from Maverick Leather. 

[simson]

Like it, Weylin. The wiggles in the stave makes some nice character and the yew looks great.
is the draw in the fd really only 27"?

[Weylin]

Like it, Weylin. The wiggles in the stave makes some nice character and the yew looks great.
is the draw in the fd really only 27"?

Thanks, Simon. My draw is 27" when I'm all stretched out. To get to 28" I have to bring it all the way to the back of my jaw.

[sieddy]

Absolutely pure class Weylin!  I Imagine John Strunk would be very proud to have passed on such an incredible tradition!
Where on earth did you get Kangaroo rawhide from!?!