Sewing the Grip

The Yew bow is finished, hopefully if we get some decent light tomorrow I'll be able to take some pics.
I shot it at the club yesterday and it performed well. I shot it through the chrono too 147 fps average (150max) which is pretty good, they say 100+ the draw weight is a good rule of thumb.
It's now shot about 170 arrows.

Before I made the grip it felt slightly uncomfortable as the back of the bow is very flay (almost concave in places).
I built up the back slightly with some hard leather (part of an old welders apron...but don't tell the old welder) and filed it to give a more comfortable rounded profile. The leather grip has a smooth folded edge and criss cross stitching done using two needles. (You can see the arrow plate which sits nicely on the heart/sap wood boundary.
I've shot it some more and the grip is definitely an improvement, I also tried shooting some of my heavier arrows with 11/32 shafts and 100gn piles and it felt smoother. Maybe the 70gn piles I use as standard are a tad light.

Whilst in the post office on Friday I weighed 5 of my standard arrows and doing the arithmetic they worked out at 9.1 grains per pound of draw weight from a 40 pound bow. Generally 10 grains per pound is accepted as as a good figure, the implication is that my arrows may gain a a little speed, possibly at the expense of smoothness.
Anyhow selecting the right arrows for a bow is a matter of experience, experiment and personal preference and a fair range of weight and spine is easily accommodated by a longbow.