RE: My experiance with self bows
The TN Classic at Twin Oaks is a GREAT place to get professional advice and help building a selfbow, not to mention a great tournament in general. Gary Davis, a fine selfbowyer, will be there. Mark "Pappy" Bagget owns the property and is a very experienced selfbowyer also. They have all the files, saws, sanders, vices, tillering sticks, scale,etc. that you will need. Wouldn't hurt to bring a pencil and measureing tape of you own. There's men, women, and kids making a ton of slivers, chips, and sawdust most of the week. They have to keep a fire going to keep all the wood that's not a bow burned up.
I've been going there the lastseveral years, and I plan to keep going as long as it's there. I've been to several shoots over the years, and many of them are great, but this is my all-time favorite--and I haven't even built a self bow.
Chad