so ive been thinking for some time about refinishing my first board bow, its 71 ntn and pulls 45#@28". the fades are far from great, and the finish has some wear on it. i was thinking about taking off the old riser, which shows signs of stress at the seam, and gluing a new, better faded riser on. has anyone done this and will it change my tiller/ draw weight?

By changing the riser and making softer fades it will change the way the bow bends. If the present riser is showing stress at the glue joint try using 3 to 5 thin layers of graduating lengths to make up your riser. It will have a little more "give" to it and should prevent the glue joint stress.

yea the current riser has horrible fades, it being my first handmade bow, now i cut my fades on the bandsaw and shape before glue up to get more consistency, thought this bow could benefit from some tlc. i think the stress on the fades currently is due to them being stiffer than they should, i had to reglue a riser on this bow because it popped the first one.

From what you said it sounds like first that your glue isn't strong enough but(!) it sounds like you have a considerable amount of handle bend and that is why you're having riser issues.

i might, given that the current riser is pretty short. i think its only 6 inch,2 inch fades and 4 inch handle section.id make it a bend through handle if i was certain it wouldnt blow on me, ive thinned the handle section down from 1 1/2 to 1 inch or so.