Yew Primitive at 28"

I've recurved the tips of the Yew primitive, shortened the string to get a full brace height and heaved it back to 28" to see if the bark would pop off.

It's quite a spectacular bend at a healthy 55#  plus draw weight.
See this video:-
https://youtu.be/Yni817qcUDs

I'll probably reduce the draw weight and maybe recurve the tips some more and slim them. It's just a bit of fun to see what I can get from this Yew stick that was hugely deflexed originally.


I rummaged around and found a string that was just right for the bow and had a few shots with first my standard arrows. Then I tried an 11/32" slightly heavier, finally one of my pretend mediaeval 32" arrows from a good long draw, I could barely believe it as it clattered into the previous arrow... dunno quite what that says about shooting carefully matched arrows.
It does show the bow is shooting left, probably due to the width of the grip needing softer spined arrows... or maybe that's just where I shot 'em, I'm not sure I was consciously aiming at the white pigeon cut out, but I'd imagine I was.

The bow felt a bit heavy and sluggish, but seemed happier with the biggest arrow.

The bark has stayed on, but has cracks across it showing where the stress is, the cracks are fairly evenly spread and go very close to the handle which is what I wanted, it shows the whole bow is flexing (except the tips which are meant to remain stiff).

Once the bark has come off I might paint it in Native American style.