I replaced my big dangerous jointer with jigs and a hand power planer, and I use it a heck of a lot, but mostly for laminated bows and handle blocks and stuff, and prepping backings.
I have used it to accelerate the thinning of limbs on board bows, just by taking them down slowly and leaving the little stair steps where the handle/fades will be.
On a stave bow? No, can't say I have. The lumps and bumps, and the need to secure the work doesn't seem to make it eiither easy or safe, exactly. Now that you mention it, though, I can see myself using it to shave down knot wood with a stave clmped on the bench. That's one place a machete or drawknife seems to want to chip up and split stuff where the grain curls.
Obligatory: Just use good sense on safety.
