Back again. Thanks gmc, I can use some encouragement. I was able to clean up before the wife got home, much as I was tempted to blame the dog. (I'm the man, why should I clean up the kitchen?)
Ultimately I decided that if I overuse the dog excuse, my wife might start to question the origin of certain smells that could otherwise be safely attributed to the hound.
Roughed out the riser now the glue is dry. Did my best to swoop the riser into the belly so the riser ends could absorb the stresses of the handle trying to bend. Then I narrowed the handle. After I did one side and got uneven thickness, I had the brainwave that if I cut troughs with the round side of my rasp, I could tell if the depth was even right across by whether the lines were parallel. Then I could use the flat side to knock down the remaining peaks. Definitely helped.
Pleased with myself on that one. Ok, then when I was pretty much done, I started to examine the discolored line running through the handle area. It isn't a crack, it just seems to be a plane of hardness. I decided not to worry about it, but please let me know if I should worry. Nothing I could do for it either way, I expect. I have to wonder what scarred the tree like that, though.
I put the "bow" (I'm optimistic) on my easel tree after cutting the nocks, and gave several tentative tugs on the rope. The right limb had 2 slight hinges, one of which was at the riser. The left limb was stiffer. Both limbs had a tendency to hinge at the point where the tapering begins. No big surprise.
I marked out some smooth curves off the riser to transfer the stresses back to the limbs in a smooth controlled manner. Then I rasped some more using the faceting method I read somewhere. (Sorry I don't remember where so I don't know who to thank here.)
Here's about where I'm at at the moment. I had to quit here because it was becoming obvious that the cord I was using was having some stretch issues. I have no way of knowing how far I was flexing the limbs and how far I was stretching the string. So I have to wait at least until tomorrow when I can get some dacron or something.
I was already starting to develop "the claw" anyways.
I might as well spend the next hour watching the Roughriders slaughter the Alouettes. (The guy in Regina has to taunt the guy in Montreal even if we're both Manitobans at heart.)
Thanks to all who are following this thread, and especial thanks to all who comment.
