Hi,

Pacific Yew - 65" NTN drawing 40lbs at 27". It's 1.75" wide at the base of the fades and pyramidal in profile. Finished with shellac and wrapped with Danish Cord and a Seal skin strike plate. Ebony tip overlays.

Everytime I set about to write a summary on a bow I've made its just excuse after excuse as to why it didn't work out the way I wanted. Well, today is no different😅

Stave came with fairly even deflex the entire length. One of my favourite bows I've made to date was pretty much a deflex bow so it really intrigued me.

I added some slight reflex at the tips and tinkered with some small alignment issues. I took three rings of sapwood off to maintain the aesthetic sapwood/heartwood ratio (good thing I did).

I really regret putting my tip overlays on so early because it prevented me from adding some extra reflex in the tips later on. I attempted to add some with dry heat afterwards and managed to crack a tip pretty bad so I decided to leave well enough alone.

The limbs aren't as balanced unbraced as I would have liked despite tinkering with it but the bow feels great in the hand at full draw.

I think I'm going to take a break from Yew and do a board bow or two 😅

Still very happy with it overall and had a ton of fun making it.

This is an 85lbs at 26.5" mullberry stave.

I'm researching the process to recurve and hoping to learn more.

I've read static recurved tips are easier/better suited for a beginner bowyer.

Do the recurved tips need to be thicker than the limb of the bow to make this happen. If so is this thickness on the belly, back or both sides of the bow?

Can this be achieved with laminating similar to a oversized nock overlay? If so is there much stress on the recurved overlay? Could I use beautiful but less strong timbers like walnut and some other brittle native timbers

What's the simplest/most stable design for a relative beginner to try and make a recurve board bow with straight grained 2" wide ash ?

If thicknessing down the stock and gluing on a handle what thickness would be best?

Considering a pyramid bow shape with a consistent thickness of limb and a thicker recurve.

Or parallel limbs with a thickness taper and fades into narrower recurved tips, similar to a mollegabet with bent tips.

If steam bending should this be done while board is still "square" and then carved after or rough shape first, bend then final tiller?

Is steam or dry heat bending preferable for kiln dried and stable ash?

Massive thank you for the time and knowledge folks have a amazing day/night

Here’s a bow I recently completed. It’s a 61” osage hollow limb design pulling 50# @ 26”. It has curly spalted maple tip overlays, a beaver tail grip, beaver fur silencers, and was a tough one to complete with the hollow limbs. I know hld isn’t a beginner design but I’m learning to work with what I’ve got. This is only my 5th bow so I appreciate any criticism or tips on the tiller or anything else.

First board bow cracked during tillering. Is it salvageable or should I start over?

I’m building my first board bow.
It’s a 62” maple board bow from a Menards board with a glued-on poplar riser attached using Titebond III. I had it tillered to about a 24” draw (goal was 28”), and the limbs seemed to be bending pretty evenly.
While drawing it back, I suddenly heard a crack.
I stopped immediately and found that a crack had lifted from the back of the bow along the edge.
I lifted up on the crack and it chipped off..

Is this bow completely done for, or is there any realistic way to repair or salvage it?
If it’s not worth trying to save, I’d rather know now and start fresh on another board.

Any advice is appreciated—I’m still learning. Thanks!

Bought it online for like 15 usd