So where was I? I glued the tip extensions on and cleaned up the lines and I've since started tillering. To answer some questions, no, I didn't use a metal strap...I know, shame on me. I also know one of my other problems with the bending (aside from using dry heat, it seems) was not adding clamps as it was bending so it distributed the load. In any case, I'm gonna put the crazy bends aside for a while. I'll come back to them later.
I'm posting a couple pics just to let you guys see where I'm at with tillering. I'm using a 1/8" thick piece of iron with a sharp, square edge as a scraper instead of the surform I used the first time and it's working really slick but man is it taking a long time to get any weight off the bow. I put in an hour and a half tonight and scraped probably 6 times and only gained about 2" of draw length when pulling just shy of my target of 50lbs.
I found a small hinge about 8" inches from the tip on the left side with my tiller tool, right in line with the drywall seam. I think the seam actually makes it look worse than it is but it's definitely there so i'm leaving it alone. And is the right limb stiff or is it ok? I can't tell and I feel like the light is playing tricks on me. I've been focusing most of my work on the inner 2/3 of each limb because the inner limbs seem awfully stiff. If I don't hear much from anyone I'll probably just stay the course I'm on and keep working those inner limbs some more.
Thanks for playing along and for any input you have!