My son saw me working on a bow and wanted one too. If I can make it work, I might be able to start thinking of myself as a bowyer. The wood is mountain maple and it is 51" long tip to tip. I am aiming for about 15 pounds @ 18 inches of draw. There are two main problems, I think. the first is the chip out of the back and the second is the knot on the belly. It looks like a twig that was grown over. Is there a way to make this work? I am wondering if I can scrape the back and smooth out the chip. the maple is diffuse porous, so I can't chase a ring, but there doesn't seem to be much grain at all, so I hope if I just keep it smooth, it will work at that low weight anyway. I will probably also back with "cotton rattler" (fabric) skins--the boy keeps seeing too many of all your bows and gets ideas. . .
For the knot, can I just fill it with superglue, or should I drill it out?