Nice bow Del!!! is the back decrowned? Looks like it in the close up braced pic of the handle. Got it set up for the Sept BOM contest right around the corner.
Yeah the back is decrowned in order to keep it nice and wide. Because it's from a small log the curve of the back is quite steep (the first pic shows this), if I didn't decrown it the draw weight would be too high, or I'd have to make it narrower (which I didn't want to).
Decrowning isn't too bad for a bow as the exposed grain lines mostly run parallel to the length of the limb rather than across it.
My 'Bowyers Diary'
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/2010/07/change-of-tack-some-design.html for Thursday 29th of July explains the reasoning, and I think part one of the tillering video comments on it too.
There's a bit more set than I'd like (2.5" when it's been rested 3" after it's been strung and shot for a while) but I think it's down to two factors
1. The slightly stiff tipped design. If the whole limb was bending the stress would be shared.
2. I don't use a hot box at all and I think the wood doesn't get as dry as it could be. However, I'd rather have the wood at 12% and some set than 9% and a broken bow, It's fairly humid in the Uk and I feel it's better to just let the wood find it's own equilibrium (That's a complicated way of sayin' I'm lazy
)
I'll shoot it through the chrono some time.
I'm sure it would come back to 30" if asked (I've done 29") as it's not working that hard. I'll shoot it in a bit more and maybe take a few scrapes off the last half of the limbs.
Del