2 weeks is plenty and yes it was necessary. As I said before broken fibers, ends of fibers in the sal will lift.
Peg board is the way to go. It allows you to work under full control,no danger and it is good for the bow.
Whilst they seem daunting to begin with....that is the wooden bowyer in you! Don't worry, be happy and just do it haha! It either makes it or it doesn't and that is mostly already decided by your previous work. Hence why every step is very important to get right. The final working bow is simply many,many relatively simple steps one on top of the other that add up to the whole.