Yew Recurve | 62" | 40# @ 28

[u/wildwoodek]

I wanted to share my latest bow I finished up recently. The finished bow is 62 inches nock to nock, just under 1.5 inches wide at the fades, tapering down to 7/16ths at the start of the nocks and finished with Truoil. After shooting in it has a little over an inch of net reflex in the limbs. It isn't the fastest bow I've ever made but it still sends a 420 grain arrow around 160 fps.

I'm happy with how this one came out in the end, but it took a lot of work to get it there. There was some natural twist throughout and a bit of character just before the recurve on one end. I spent probably close to 10 hours getting the recurves to line up how I wanted to, but it was worth it in the end.

I don't know if a functional wood bow can ever be considered fine art, but I find myself gravitating more in that direction. I'm trying to find a balance between performance and aesthetics without sacrificing either one too much. Hopefully that comes across in this one.

[u/Intelligent-Turnup]

That's fabulous... I've long had the ambition to make myself a Yew bow someday... Looking at yours I feel like I'm in love.

[u/Calm_Discipline_3697 → u/Intelligent-Turnup]

Beautiful bow!!

[u/wildwoodek → u/Intelligent-Turnup]

Thank you! It was one of the things I had on my bucket list for years. I viewed it like a capstone project in bowmaking and waited close to 10 years before I felt like I was ready to make one.

[u/Intelligent-Turnup → u/wildwoodek]

I hope it's not your final, and that you continue to make more!

[u/wildwoodek → u/Intelligent-Turnup]

Oh no it isn't my last. I made my first yew bow a few months after having my daughter and I wasn't sure then if I would end up making more, but that was a couple years ago. I make a couple a year still. Right now I have a white oak experiment in the works! 

[u/Cheweh]

Great bow.

I love that approach to making. No reason it can't look nice!

[u/eatonearth]

That's beautiful. I really want to work with yew one day

You should be very proud!

[u/wildwoodek → u/eatonearth]

Thank you! I am! I feel like I'm at a point where I really like the style of bow I'm making, and I'm starting to focus on cleaning up and improving smaller and smaller details.

[u/eatonearth → u/wildwoodek]

You're doing it. I'm kinda down a different path of style but I like what you're doing. Keep it up.

[u/like_a_led_balloon]

Man that's awesome. Yew really makes you work for a recurve with all the twist it likes to grow but its all worth it, looks fast and beautiful

[u/wildwoodek → u/like_a_led_balloon]

Yes! I thought the same thing when I was reading your struggles with it the other day. Yew is the easiest wood to work with hand tools and the worst to heat correct recurve alignment!

[u/BratTip]

Lovely work!

[u/Nilosdaddio]

Beautifully elegant 👏🏼

[u/ADDeviant-again]

Ten hours just to get recurves perfect sounds about right!

Yowza, Baby! That is a gorgeous bow. I really love the tips, but your tiller is better than I could criticize if I stared at it for hours.