I finally finished a pair of longbows for my niece and nephew.






I used bamboo for the backs and bellies of both bows and the risers are made from pau ferro.
For my niece, I glued purpleheart into the riser and used it for the core lam as well. This bow is 68" ttt and draws 42# @ 28".
My nephew's bow has padauk in the riser and as the core. It's 66" ttt and draws 44# @28".
I finished both bows with many coats of tru oil for a nice hard gloss. I made the rests from a bit of seal skin I was given.
During the build, I also discovered that pau ferro makes my eyes itch and makes me sneeze. First time I reacted to any wood. I'll have to be careful from now on.
I also made arm guards and back quivers for them both and had a friend make up a dozen arrows for each.

I can't wait to take them over and get shooting with the kids.
Dave.

Very nice! Some lucky niece and nephew!

Beautiful work! I wish I had an uncle as generous as you...

Any difficulty tillering with the bamboo bellies?

Very nice...

Wow!nice work!!

Beautiful work sir!

That's some really nice work on everything.  I'm always amazed by the bamboo belly lams on your bows.
I'd like to try to make one someday, but I'd probably scrap out a lot of bows before I got the core thickness and taper right.
Beautiful bows!

Nicely done! Thats a pretty cool medallion. What is it?

Fantastic  

Nice pair of Boo backed twins and great leather work.

Wow those are some nice bows and some lucky kids!

Thank you all for the nice remarks. Those two are my only niece and nephew, so I spoil them a bit.
Nezwin, they can only be tillered from the edges so you have to be close to your target at glue up.
Takefive, I became fascinated with this style of bow after seeing one here on this forum, and I have thrown a bunch out that failed for one reason or another. A buddy of mine warmed his shop one winter with broken bows.      
They're not always easy to build. These two fought me all the way and they are not perfect, but they do shoot.
JKidd, my niece and I went to a local pewter shop she knows and she picked a tree of life medallion for her bow. The other medallion is a Celtic pattern.
Dave.

they really are extremely well crafted bows, I love 'em both!

Nicely done!

Those are NICE!  Good job.

Wish I had an uncle like that...

Beautiful bows and quivers. Is the belly boo toasted or stained?

The belly lams are toasted. I use a propane torch, but a butane torch is better. It has a cooler, less intense flame. It's too easy to burn the bamboo with propane.
Dave.

Very nice work!  

As for toasting the belly boo, did you torch them until they reached the color that they are now or did you stain them after toasting?

Burnt them black. Doesn't take long!      
Dave.