I found myself getting upset with a 's' shaped piece of black locust that wouldn't allow that kind of alignment, no matter how much heat or steam I applied to the stave. I could get front or back movement, but zero side to side. finally I lamented my problem here, asking for help, which came in the form of a single statement...."who says it has to cross in the center of the handle?". that brought about an eye opening realization. I had a perfect center shot bow in my hands, and didn't know it. the moral is, that sometimes out of the box, or in this case, out of line
, is a good thing. by the way, that bow isn't finished yet, it needs to be backed due to some imperfections on the back, but with the little bit of shooting done with the tillering string on it, it's going to be a real fast shooter. (as a final note, my 22 yr. old son has tried to 'claim' that bow when it's finished...not going to happen!!!!) so...don't sweat it if the the string falls to one side or the other of the handle.. the stave is just telling you where to lay the arrow!
