sorry to hear that...the good news is your not far..we can exchangs phone #'s and get ya started maybe we can get ya a decent stave to get started on .... believe it or not ive tillered a couple of staves with help from people here just sending pics to em....pics can tell you alot that your eye dont see anyway...will PM you my # after wrk today...see if we cant geg ya started on a bow quick!!