Fingers crossed for a better result this time Dave.
Re The Bow Bolt. I know some people have had success with joining billets. Others have had failures, even fglass bowyers. One glass bowyer only does them with solid phenolic risers, won't use wood anymore. If you go the BB route in the future, for all wood bows, I would at the very least give the outside of the joins wraps/bindings of fg, before starting the tillering process.