thanks for all the kind words everyone. Gordon, thank you for your encouraging words means a lot coming from such an accomplished craftsman. the skins are easy to work with just dry them out flat on a board, then rehydrate and glue them on. I used TB2. the scales have hooks on them that need to be trimmed off i broke my wifes nailclippers doing these. by doing the bow black all the color comes out in the skins there is a gold irradecence that comes out in the sunlight. chokecherry was easy to work with but this one started to develop a fret in the upper limb I applied a thin patch of wood over the area and it seems to be working. the bow is taking some set and I wish i would have flipped the tips more on this and applied sinew under the skins. I will try to get a pic of the belly to post. this is a fun bow to shoot, most of my bows are 60# and up so this is a nice easy shooter, maybe use it for antelope this year.