Holy Vine Maple

[bjrogg]

It looks to me like you have it laid out really well around the knot hole. The grain around it should be good enough to trust.

Like JW said it definitely has loads of challenges, but that knot hole looks like one that’s workable.

Id clean up any loose undependable wood and leave the hole, but I kinda like holes.

Bjrogg

[JW_Halverson]

This is what I call a hail Mary stave. You may not pull it off, if you do then you are the G.O.A.T, if you don't you then look brave and passionate about your craft, and in the end learn more about making bows than you ever could with a simple stave.

[Doug509]

I'm no GOAT.  More like luckiest of all time if i pull this off.  I think "Hail Mary" will be a great name for this bow if it survives.  Did some tillering with Eric's tillering tool.  Marking and scraping, marking and scraping.   

[Robert Pougnier]

That's looking promising so far, the bow will be a head turner for sure with that knothole and character!

[Pappy]

Looks like a good start, slow and easy is the word. 
 Pappy

[JW_Halverson]

That's looking promising so far, the bow will be a head turner for sure with that knothole and character!

No kidding! Pull this one off and you'll have street cred and bragging rights in the community. Like it says in the first Bowyers Bible, anytime you feel like really going in hard and making wood move, go soak your head in a bucket of cold water. I find a 1:5 ratio of cubed ice to water works best.

[Doug509]

I had some trouble going from a long string to a real bow string.  Tiller looked great on long string with plenty of draw weight to hit 45lbs.  Once i put a bow string on Hail Mary went super wonky with one limb dead straight and the other close to 6" brace.  After removing wood to acheieve even tiller I landed on a pretty low draw wt of 32lbs at 28".  Upper limb with knot hole 36" lower limb 34".  Wish I had another 15lbs of draw wt.  Shoots an arrow real nice with no hand shock. 

[Doug509]

Here's some pics. 

[Burnsie]

I learned that lesson the hard way - I now try to get off the long string and to low brace as soon as practical.

[WhistlingBadger]

I've had that same thing happen to every wonky piece of wood I've tried to make into a bow:  Get it strung and it goes off, and by the time I even it up it's too light to hunt with.  Still figuring out how to remedy that.  But you aren't alone.  And it's still an extremely cool bow.