Making an (archery) bow is one of the most challenging woodworking projects of all --- removing 1/1000 of an inch of thickness from the back (evenly) will change the draw weight by 1 pound, and when the stave is first roughed out, there is a single point in the structure which is the weakest which defines the maximum possible draw weight for that bow --- that is, until one tries making arrows, as the old saw goes:

>Any stick will do for a bow, but an arrow must be perfect.

I've made a couple --- one of my most successful was a Decurve-reflex hickory-backed hickory Flatbow:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/paleoplanet69529/decurve-ref...