Thanks, everyone. I too think the top limb is a little stiff in the outer third.
randman- yes I am loving ocean spray - this is only my second OS bow. No bark on this one, but a home made black stain, which i also pre-stained the sinew wraps with. First i got a bottle of white vinegar and added 3 pads of 0000 steel wool- let sit one week.next i applied some strong black tea to the wood (or sinew) i also put tea in the hide glue for the sinew. Then, i put the vinegar in a spray bottle (not the rusty steel wool or the sediment, just the vinegar, which looks mostly clear). when you spritz on the vinegar, a chemical reaction occurs , turning it all black. If you omit the tea, you get various grey hues.
As far as the tips go, they could be way narrower, but i like them too. I started with a small ring of pronghorn horn, boiled it for an hour and squashed it flat in a clamp. Next I carved both nocks into the horn, cutting them apart at the end. This made carving easier 'cos I could hold onto one while carving the other.
Tillering was tricky due to all the small wiggles and bumps, so i used my usual trick of measuring tiller by drawing straight lines on the sides of the bow and then measuring the bend of the lines (photos below).
I am making a handle out of cork, which will give a nice round cross section to the bow which is now a half-circle cross section at the handle.
The stave had potential to become a 40 pounder at least, and I had to restrain myself from making ME another bow,, when what i really need is to get the girlfriend into archery.
Thanks to Josh, Elktracker, we cut the stave in his "back yard".
I'll have to put the most of the photos into another post, I am having "issues".
