I have to agree with gordon, unless you take some off the inner limbs, it will take a lot of set mid-limb. I know from personal experience, since I tend to have the same problem. Since it's almost fully tillered, you may just want to go with it, rather than risk lowering the weight any. Rawhide backing probably will not increase your draw weight, and if it does, it will add enough weight to the limbs to negate any performance advantage. It is however a good insurance policy against breakage. My second attempt was a white oak board and the end of one limb smacked me in the temple when it broke on the tillering stick (my screenname describes most of my early bows) If you want to increase performance, sinew is the way to go, but there is a lot of curing time involved. I'm not sure, but a heavy silk backing might do the trick. Anyone out there with any experience on that?