thanks guys. black hawk. ive done a dozen or so abo bows. elm is by far the toughest to work. eastern cedar would be next. not because of the wood . the knots in it are very difficult to work. ash definitely being the easiest. i do my best to have the limbs thinned down to a floor tiller when the wood is still green. the difficulty with this bow was the grip. the buchanan dips are tough with rocks. also it did twist a bit in the grip area while drying. all the other bows i did were just simple d bows that worked through the handle. definitely the way to go with stone tools. one tip for anybody wanting to try this. a little trick i learned while building theses bows, cut through one side of the sapling first, then bend the tree. it will start a split that can be used to pry it in two with the antler wedges.
