At the start of the 2016 trade, Fred Arnold was generous enough to supply me with this amazing pristine yew stave. He told me I could keep it for myself if I wanted, but it seemed right to pass the generosity on to the next guy--who I am sure will find ways to share in this hobby too. It was a pleasure to work and my son wishes we could keep it too (I think he was hoping to grow into it someday). The finished bow came in at 66" knock-to-knock. It is 1.75" at the fades tapering down to .5" at the knocks. It pulls a solid 60# @28" but is tillered out to my 29" for safety, where I am getting about 63#. It buries an arrow up to the fletchings from as far back in my yard as I can shoot it.
The tips and strike plate are deer antler, and the finish is 8 coats of tung oil with a pumice rub to create a satin finish.
The bow is backed with rawhide--which created a canvas that begged for decoration. I wanted to give the bow some flavor from my home, so I painted Fremont petroglyphs copied from near Moab, and 9-mile canyon, where I grew up. I hope my victim likes how it turned out.
here is the inlay
I wasn't sure about the floppy rest, but that seemed to be what most of the trade group thought would be best, and I really like how arrows shoot from it. A nice middle ground between bare knuckles and a shelf, with the best of both worlds, and really nothing in the way of drawbacks.
and some more pictures of the back. The images are of a hunter, bighorn sheep, a sun spiral, and a pair of snakes. No one knows what they meant, but here they are supposed to be good hunting omens. My wife (the photographer) is afraid of snakes, so I am afraid I don't have any closeups of those.
tips:
Here is the side profile. The silencers are rabbit fur, and quite effective.
Braced:
and Full Draw:
Again, thanks for looking. I think my victim will like it as much as I do. If not, he his welcome to send it back and I will see what else I can come up with. My plan C pulls about 15# and has drywall tape on the back--so if you like red oak mollies, I can send that instead.
