That is really a great looking bow!  And from a sledge hammer handle    :eek:    Did you use a draw knife?  You mind telling your process, I wouldn't mind trying to make one and naming it after you to give you credit    

No Problem South! It is really quite easy!  I took a sledge handle that had the grain running cleanly down the length of the handle. Make sure the grain is oriented so that the wide part of the handle is the back of the bow.

The grain looked something like this (not an actual picture of the handle)

I split it down the notch provided in the handle for the wedge to keep the head on.

It didn't split evenly, so I used the bigger half. After it was split I sanded the entire thing down, and "chased a ring" on the back using a rasp. all that that entailed was taking off the bit right before where the head goes on that flares out. . I sanded the entire back glass smooth after that.

I drew out the dimensions, 3 in handle. 1 in fades. t the widest it is exactly one sledge handle in width ( I didn't measure it.)

I leveled out the handle area on the belly, cut down the sides of the limbs with a machete and used my farrier's rasp to get the handle down to what looked good to my eye.

Then I put the overlays on the tips and handle using household superglue.  I then roughed out the belly with the same rasp.

( I make my handles and tips first. many advise against this. I figure if it looks like a nice bow early it is easier to talk it into being a nice bow later, and thats how Manny taught me to do it. )

Floor tillering consisted of me bending it over my knee.  After it was bending pretty good I put it on a tillering tree and using a mini gizmo gave it some final rasp scrapes to get it bending evenly.

Once everything seemed in order, I scraped and scraped the belly until I was down to the weight I wanted at the draw I wanted.   Pretty strait forward bow building. ( I learned almost everything from the bench on this sight.)

Sorry that was so long winded. I hope it helps. There is no need to give me credit for anything. I merely replicated and reduced designs that have been used for many many years.

Very nice!

Thanks I'll have to find a sledge handle and give it a go.  I've not ever tried a bow build sounds intimidating.

Go for it South MS Bowhunter! Building a bow is not very hard. It is time consuming and patience is key. If you break it your only out a bit of wood.

search this site for how to make a tillering gizmo. it is a game changer and really speeds things up!