About 6-8 months ago, I gave Sixby a call at Eaglewing Archery and had lengthy talk with him about building me a bow.
I told him I wanted a static tip recurve or longbow that came in at 56" and had belly mounted limbs.
I talked with him about what I liked when it came to how a bow looks. Also discussed my priorities. The two items that topped my list were number 1: Quiet; and number 2: smooth draw. Told him speed was okay, but didn't want to sacrifice either of the top two for it. Steve assured me what he delivered would be no slouch in the speed department though.
We discussed his Talon II quite a bit. He talked about limb geometry and some things he was working on.
So, after we hung up, I sent my deposit to him and began my wait.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks or so ago. Was swapping emails with Steve and he dropped a bombshell on me.
He had added a brand new model to his lineup. This bow was to be known as the Steppe Eagle. And, I was about to receive bow #1 of the model (aside from a prototype he had done R&D with).
That, to me, seemed like such an honor. Steve is such an artistic bowyer. One of the reasons I chose him was that I had never seen one of his bows that I thought was not just astounding visually. The second reason was, of all the research I had done, I had never read one single, negative comment about any of his bows.
4 days ago, I got an email from Steve saying the bow had shipped. Today, I picked it up at the post office and had to open the package while sitting in my truck in the parking lot.
I was floored by the beauty of what I held in my hands. I had told Steve that I liked woods that had contrast and big, bold grain. I then left the rest to him. What he created took my breath away.
The riser is Zebra Wood and Leopard Wood with Zebra Wood veneers. It came in at 52#@28" which is dead on my favorite bow weight.
Enough words.
May I present Eaglewing Archery's Steppe Eagle (#1):