Thank ya'll for your kind words.
re: handshock
Handshock was never really a problem with any of the rigid recurves I've built so far. The first couple had some but I found that the angle of the recurves can be adjusted to smooth it out. Also, the deflex smooths out the action a bit. It's a bit of a balancing act between those two aspects and the usual belly-to-back ratios, tapers, and limb length. Even though the bow is 66" o/a, there's only 18" of working limb.
Marc St Louis, I usually don't bind the limbs at the root. I just put that on to cover the cotton back in this case. The only other times I've done it was to hold down bolsters I add to the limbs to stiffen them up a bit after the bow is shot in. I put the smaller bindings on this one to move the 'center of percussion' up the limbs a bit.
Salut,
Bruce