Even at 1/2" thick and 1 1/2" wide the limbs are too stiff, hardly bending at all at floor tiller. So I narrows the limbs to 1 3/8, marking the knots near the edges so I can leave a little width there.
then I reduced the thickness to 7/16" with the farriers rasp. Then I removed the tool marks with the scraper keeping the belly radiused. At this point I decided I'd explain how I use a scraper. If you use the scraper just perpendicular across the limbs it can cause undulations, waves, on the belly
so by alternate the scraper from straight, then cocked to the left
then to the right on alternate scrapes
it helps to take down the crest of these unwanted waves by hitting the high spots created by using the scraper only perpendicularly.
I also found these hanging from the bow bench where I keep them. When my daughter comes to visit she and I stay up late drinking red wine and watching zombie shows on TV like Walking Dead and Fear of Walking Dead. One year for Christmas she gave these to me. Being a hunting forum I thought them appropriate.
more to come...