Sulphur,I agree about the splice, I don't think it is as hard as it appears when you have never done one. After the first one it is no big deal. The Lowes and Home Depot in my town are about a block apart, Menards is a couple miles from my house, almost like having an Archery store in town. I forgot how much easier it is to make a board bow than a stave. It was fun, took two weeks. A lot of the time was putting on the finish.
So, I could say, Red Oak sucks...up finish that is. I was using wipe on poly, finally sealed the end grain using regular poly.
Canoe and John K, I will get a better full draw pic, but I will substitute my wife for the Dollar store tripod and stupid camera timer.