Thanks a lot! I appreciate it!
The saplings were cut on January 08. I gave one away, two others are drying sealed with the bark on. The one I used for this bow had a grip diameter of about 1 1/4 inches, the others are about 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 inches, I didn't measure yet.
I left the bow in the workshop (cold basement) for a few days, then removed the bark and some wood in the outer half of the limbs on the belly side. After a few days in the basement (about 6°C or 43F, I am glad it's getting warmer now...), I left it in the kitchen for another couple of days. There were no checks, so I removed the bark on the side, and left it in the basement again. When it did not show any checks after another few days in the kitchen, I removed the remaining bark and took it to the kitchen after another few days in the basement for the final drying of about 3 weeks. Total drying time must have been 6 weeks, maybe a few days more. I didn't write it down.
There were several knots that I planed through on the belly side. They checked (~5mm cracks), so I recommend sealing these spots. I will do that with the next ones.
There is a larger knot beneath one of the lines patches. This turned out to be a weak spot. It is midlimb and I had to thin the limb near the grip down to the same thickness (!) to get an even bend. This is the reason why I ended up with only 46#. It's still great wood, but I suppose it is better to leave a good extra thickness on knotty spots - I thought 3mm would do, but it didn't.
Daniel
