Hope to be making nice bows like yours someday..nice work..

It will work but you need to round off the edges, and round off the edges of the limbs, you don't want them square. Your handle looks blocky and square, that's why I round my handles and fade them out into the fades. But your learning:)

yes..I have to do a LOT of rounding..with just a rasp I could be here a good while..

Won't take long at all and at this point you only want a rasp, and a scraper.

Im gonna go with a thinner riser on my next one..no arrow rest cut..just wrapped..I totally agree that the arrow rest detracts from the looks of the bow..

Atta Boy:)

Roy's got ya pretty well covered i see!  Congrats on getting her tillered out.  A rasp will shape that handle pretty quickly (too quickly if you're not careful!!).  Start with rounding off the edges as Roy said, then you can grip it and feel where wood needs to be removed, continue until it feels good.

When i got started, i looked at as many handles/grips as i could via searches, and decided what i wanted mine to look like.  Smooth contours and graceful lines win the day (though sometimes I still have one come out not quite how i like it).  That's the fun of experimentation though!

Looks like you're well on your way to a full fledged addict   :D
I have no doubts your next one will be right at the goal weight  

yeah..i goes a lot faster than i realized with a good 4 way rasp..totally addicted..lol

After a long while of rasping..a raspathon to be sure, I have it mostly done..still have some material to shape but the grip is shaped for the most part..I shot it a couple of time with my sons little wee arrows..probably only 20" or so..but I am wondering how the fletchings will go through the arrow rest..it seems like they will hit the rest and side of the rest..how does this part of things work?

That looks much better. With bows like this, which are way out of center shot, you need to tune your arrows to the bow. Have you heard of archers paradox? Paradox is the bending of the arrow shaft when you release the string. Do a search on you tube and you will find videos explaining it. I have found with my bows I need an arrow spined about 7 pounds lighter than the bows draw weight at my draw length.  How about a picture of the belly of the handle with the bow at a 6 inch brace? And a picture of the whole belly of the bow from the end of one limb while strung.

Darcey,
That is looking real good, did you do all that work with a 4-way rasp, wow. For a first bow that is looking real good. As Roy said, work on matching your arrows spine to your bow. Hardest part of that, for me, is working out that 50# arrow spine does not mean it is for a 50# bow, though it could be   . There are way to many variables for it to be that simple. Once you add arrows to the whole addiction you are done, good luck.

Yeah..about 4 hours of sitting on the floor with a 4way rasp..I was a bit sore when I got back up..I do regret cutting the arrow rest..it seems like it now has a major weak spot at the fade..my tillering does not suggest that it should bend at the fades but it still seems like a weak spot now.

Edit..I did cut the arrow rest with a coping saw so not to think it did it ALL with a rasp..

your lighter poundage bow should be ok.
if you are gonna cut in a shelf- one has to make sure that the whandle is a bit deeper.
but it looks ok to me from the pics.

well its a good thing it is my trail bow..

Thanks for so much help with this Roy..you have been very helpful along the way with so much feedback and photos to help me along..really appreciate it.

Anytime CamoZ. And I was truly impressed with the tiller on your first bow. ^5 Roy

I was happy with the evenness of it too..thanks..My next Hickory one I will be shooting for at least 40lb so I have to get the fades to mid limbs down a bit sooner than on this build so I can get the tiller more even from the start of the tiller process.

Here is a good info thread for you to read.

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000122

You bet..read that full article a bit before I started on this build..it is how I chose the oak board used for this build. I will re-read it for info on keeping poundage while tillering..