I double checked the piece of hickory I had in mind. It's actually going to afford almost 1 3/4" width at the fadeouts. Not the full 2" that Blackhawk mentions in the link above to the hackberry masterpiece he showed.
I went back and re-read his posting of that bow. I really liked it at the time, but had not read much about the details. (Too busy looking at bow porn to read about her turn-offs, astrological sign, and such) Good comment about making sure there is NO limb twist, Blackhawk, I would have missed that and learned a hard lesson.
I did notice that there are pin sized borer holes in a few spots on this piece of wood. They go diagonally thru the grain in places and follow the growth rings in other places. Since I am backing with rawhide, I'm not terribly concerned and will just pump 'em fulla cyanoacrylic glue. I'll be extra careful to make sure I do not have a bug hole, if at all possible, in the outer levers.