Quite dif from pyramid. A pyramid has pretty uniform thickness, and width tapers evenly from fade to tip. A meare heath is essentially the opposite: width is uniform (parallel) most of the length, and the thickness tapers uniformly from fade to tip.
The rawhide wrapping was to replicate the historical bow, don't think it was necessary at all as far as function.
Frosty, don't forget to make you a tillering gizmo (there's a build-a-long on this site), it's especially useful with the pyramid, but can be used on others as well.