Before you get your knickers all in a twist thinking I am a prolific bow builder, know that these bows were started some time ago. Just now got the shop up and running and am catching up on such projects. They were both about 80% done and waiting for time and place to complete.

 

 

The BBO (bamboo backed osage) on the top is 64" NTN and 47# @ 28" - slight R/D with about 1/2" of string follow. Very sweet shooter. Not yet sealed or handle wrapped as it was just tillered out today.

 

This Yew self bow I am particularly pleased with as it is my fourth (!!!!!) try at building a yew self bow and all the others ended in spectacular explosions. It became a personal challenge to make an unbacked yew bow. It was made from a stave traded from a fellow from Oregon (Treekiller?) at MOJAM a couple years ago. The stave had 6" of deflex and everyone else was shunning it. I saw very fine rings (about 50/in) and clear as can ever be hoped for from Yew. Straightened on a cull to almost straight and slowly worked to tiller. I tried to get as much of the wood as possible working without a bend in the handle style. It does pull a full 28" though my draw is more like 26.5" with this type bow.


It is 66 3/4" NTN and 53# @ 28" with about 2.5" of string follow.

How does it shoot? Well, now I know why this was the wood of choice for so many generations.

 

Both bows have buffalo horn tip overlays. The yew bow is finished with several coats of Truoil and I plan to leave it completely unadorned and shoot off the hand.

Ah winter, bow building season in Iowa.

Both look great! Like that tiller on the bbo alot. Nice job with the yew as well. The bbo I made for is a more extreme in profile, we'll have to see how the profiles stack up to one another...

dan

very nice :0)

Good lookin tiller on them both!          

sure puts my hickory to shame. Way to go sweet looking bows      

Nice work Shaun.  Yew is nice bow wood.  Just doesn't like our low humidity climates in the winter.  

Shaun,
Nice looking bows!!  Like myself, I think you have been stricken with the dreaded bowyer's disease.  It must be that time of the year: I finished tillering two, got three others spliced, glued, and bent on the cauls, and a BBO glued up this weekend.

looking good Shaun,...now we need more pictures, lots of them  

very nice!

Nasty,nasty,nasty.The tillering on both looks perfect.Now that Im working the day shift Ill be giving a selfbow a try.Very nice bows there.

Wow SWEET looking bows there Shaun, if only I had half that ability.

I really need to take some time and go learn a thing or several thousand things from you about bow building.  My unfinished Yew bow and one more yew stave have been put aside for the hunting season but thats no longer a distraction.  I did managed to collect a bunch of sinew for backing mine as a payment for ignoring them for so long though.  I should be getting a bunch of locust to turn into staves as well as soon as I get back home to visit my brother so Ill have lots of victims (err staves) to torture into shape.

Nice looking bows.  I want to make one and I want to make it out of either yew or Osage. Unfortunatley we here on the east coast of Canada cannot seem to get those woods here.  SUCKS.

 YEW,,,WE!    

   NICE!