I've recently made a heat formed PVC recurve. It's my first attempt and imbalanced but I'm going to try another one on a jig. I'd guess it's about a 35 - 40 lb draw. With paint and some cool para-cord wraps it could look pretty awesome. This thing still going?
this turned out really well when it was done i was slinging arrows but it took all my might to get a full draw. i usually shoot my bows 60 pounds, but have had my compound bow at 70 when i was shooting daily. this felt hectic trying to get the draw back. i pulled a fucking bonehead move about a year ago and shattered it. i plan to build another but right now i have to finish this canoe i've been building first.
Good question. Especially since I'm pretty comfortable with steaming and veneer work, logic would suggest that I steam it. But, the little research work that I did regarding traditional yew wood bows told me that they originally just used time, pressure and incremental removals of wood to produce the final product, so I figured why not try it.
The tree was harvested by a dude I met on Haida gwaii, and his being First Nations, the wood being cut and left to dry on the beach for a few years, it seemed like all signs directed me to just try it the old fashioned way. Success or failure, it's been a cool project to fuck around with, and I'm fascinated by this woods flexibility and strength.