Innocente:  The handle wasn't leather, it was woodburned stippling...four hours worth of burning little dents in the handle area!  Dang near went crazy.  That's the reason I'm most upset the bow blew.  

kenn1320:  Maple can sometimes be brittle, especially when heat treated.  Combine that with narrow limbs, and the bow was really pushed to the bring of it's limits before it even blew.  In looking at the pieces, I got a couple of spots just a tad bit darker on each limb than I would have liked.  Not black or charred, just a bit more tempered than the rest of the limb.  I think the increase compression strength here cause the back to fail in tension.  

Jason: I use a woodburning iron to stipple the grip.

Art B:  I though to myself just before I applied the stain, "I probably should put a light backing on this just to be safe."  Famous last words!!!!    

Thanks, all!

"I think the increase compression strength here cause the back to fail in tension." The answer to that is to trap the belly to about 2/3 the width of the back. Just draw another template on the belly and use a draw knife. 1.5wide limbs should work if you use this method. Personally though I'd use 1 5/8 or 1.75 at the fades and 3/8 at the tips. On the tempering I usually like to get the wood "golden brown" sorta like when you roast marshmallows you don't want them too dark nor too light. There were some spots on you tempering that were perfect but you want to strive for it to all be "golden brown"

wow man.  i'm gonna try that on the next good looking shaped handle i turn out.

Jesse:  Yeah, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I haven't really perfected a uniform temper using my hot plate.  The finished pictures are deceiving, as the stain really makes the temper look darker than it was.  

There's such a WIDE range of thought on the tempering process; that is, to what extent/color the belly should be tempered.  It's a  fine line between tempering, cooking, and burning, isn't it?

 In retrospect I would have backed the bow and trapped the belly, but it was shooting so beautifully that I didn't see the need.  Just blew up mid-draw and that's all she wrote!  Also, I too like limbs at least 1.75 wide. However, I bought this particular board even though it was only 1.5 wide because I RARELY find a suitable maple board (I guess this one doesn't count...Ha!)

what a spectacular blow up.  i think it was probably too much for the wood (like you said).  Man it looked great though!!!

4est,
you may have just answered my question in your last post,but when you say that a good maple board is hard to find can I gather that the grain patterns on a maple board need to  match those of the red oak you pictured in your last build-a-long?

Innocente,  The handle was not leather.  The bowyer stipled the handle with round burrs to look like that

Matt: Yeah, I only use a board with straight grain on the bow's future back unless I'm dealing with hickory or plan on backing the bow.  The supply of maple I have access to in this area in not always the best.  That's mostly due to the fact that we don't get as large a shipment of maple in because the demand for maple is lower than red oak.  Further, they don't often specify the subspecies like they do for oak lumber.  That's why I said it was hard to find good maple boards.

4est, how do you temper like that? 1) i just took too much off a hickory backed red oak board bow i made for a friend.  I need it ready to give to him when we go hunting last week of the season  (2nd wk of JAN here in TX). My goal was 50lb@27 inches and after sanding and shooting in, i am at 45lbs.  i was hoping that temper could get me back up to 50lbs.   2) it just looks really cool.