Rounded Belly

[Coo-wah-chobee]

You can make a flat surface with hand tools. Use a cabinet scraper and bow it slightly so that you are putting pressure on the center rather than edges. If you can make it hollow, you can make it flat.

                        What is flat ? Care to explain ?How do you bow a cabinet scraper ta put pressure on the center not the edges ? Care ta explain ? Do you mean "relatively flat and not perfectly flat ?"........bob

[M-P]

I can't speak for others, but when I talk about a flat bellied bow, I mean relatively flat.   Not fiber glass bow flat.   I do think that handtools can come close to real flatness, but it's a lot of work.  Cabinet scrapers, small planes and spoke shaves all can be used to flatten the belly.  Ron

[Pappy]

bob I guess if you put a mike on mine they ant PERFECTLY flat but they are flat
none the less.I round a few if need be but mostly I make them flat,like you said
everybody has one and that is mine.I like to keep the limb the same thickness
all the way across and rounding the belly won't do that if the back is flat
well [kind of flat]nothing is prefect in selfbows.If I have a dip in the back I
round the belly accordingly if the back is rounded I dish out a little also.seem
to work for me.
   Pappy