It's all a matter of what measure of patience you work into a project George. You know that. Yes, a character stave takes longer to figure out but if you are slow and careful they can be made to bend as "perfectly" as any other. I doubt we have any real differences, just in the way we describe things. What works, works after all and there ain't no cheating that. I never thought of it as difficulty per se, rather as a challenge. I was also about process, not product, so a challenging project was just as much or more entertaining for me as an "easy" one. I got no prollem with boards. I made a butt load of backed board bows, boo backed mostly. I'd not particularly enamored with red oak boards from the home center, or unbacked boards, but mostly because what boards I've used were just really horrible specimens, lacking density. Also because, if yer gonna make a board bow and not leverage the benefit of a backing w/ glued in reflex, even cut from it's ownself, it seems like a real waste of the material's potential. But yes, I concede an unbacked board bow does have it's own charm. It's all good!
