Confession and Speed Test

The first patch I put on had a small knot, more like a load of concentric rings really, but I noticed some tiny cracks radiating out from it... drat!
Well, I still had all the glue, strapping, offcuts of Yew and tools out, so I just took a rasp to it and added another patch, long and deep. This giving a nice continuous layer of clean wood up the belly made up of 3 interlocking/overlapping patches. You can hardly see 'em unless you know what you are looking at.
I've started shooting it again ... and I thought I'd shoot a few through the chrono'. It's maybe a whisker slower than I hoped, but it's rather long and carrying some excess timber in the form of knots. The results were a bit variable as I was having rouble getting a clean shot through the optical gate of the chrono' .
The best were a whisker over 167fps, using my 'standard'  arrows, which felt pretty good from the bow, although an 11/32" shaft would feel smoother.
The bow is looking very handsome now, it will need a lot of shooting in to make sure it's all fine. All the patches are on the upper limb. There are a couple of features on the lower which I will keep and eye on.
I've not done an arrowplate, I'll wait and see how it settles and if the guy for whom I'm making it still fancies it...
Maybe he's jinxed ;-) as the previous one I was making for him blew on the tiller.
Hopefully I'll have some cleaner staves seasoned by the summer.