Overbuilt?

[willie]

this wood is somehow like rubber. its not something my ash backings usually do

rubber is a good analogy.  when I tillered a similar combo, I accidentally created a short section on each mid-limb that took a permanent set. otherwise, it seems to do like yours and eventually recover. I would have to bandsaw the bow apart to see if the areas of permanent set was created in the belly or the back.

seeing if the bow progressively slows (thru the chrono) as it is shot more would be interesting.  and if you can set it aside and get the speed back next week.

[simk]

i will do that and shoot it some and report behaviour. i have a very similar ilex bellied bow to compare 😃

[Tommy D]

I believe that contraption is a bow trap - an animal steps on the string set along the trail and it releases the arrow. The Kamba hunters/ poachers in Kenya decimated Tsavo National Park’s leopard population very effectively in the 1970’s using a fairly similar device and poisoned arrows. This was at the height of the leopard skin trade. Fortunately leopard are very resilient and their numbers bounced back quickly - but I believe the bow traps were a real hazard for anyone walking in the bush as the Akokanthera poison used has no known antidote. It’s interesting how similar effective designs pop up all over the world independently.