OK guys, this is bad.
As usual, the spiteful wood gods have dealt me a perilous fate. I checked and there were cracks on this stave that I had to eliminate by violating the growth rings. Now this bow stave will be reduced from about 35 to 32 inches. What an insult to human dignity. I am about to literally go blind from rage right now.
So now my bow will have a severely violated back, and I will have to give it an industrial-strength backing of sinew to compensate for this materials inherent inferiority. Not only with the growth rings be violated, there is likely to be an area near one nock where there will be a transition from sapwood to heartwood. Should I just chuck this stave in a bonfire; and pretend it's feeling the delicious pain that I want it to feel as it is consumed by flames, or should I try giving it a very thick backing of sinew, and just accept the fact that I am not going to be able to produce exactly what I wanted, no matter how hard I slave, slave, slave away?