A clarification... As I'm sure anyone can tell, I'm really new to bow building, and my terminology is off at times. It was pointed out to me that I referred to using this box on "staves" and that it wasn't sturdy enough in it's clamping capability for heavy work with a draw knife. That is correct, it would not be up to that kind of work.
This is meant more for lam ups and board bows, than raw staves at the initial stages. I do know that John told me, very strongly, to avoid using draw knives or planes, to stick to scrapers. I was watching him use a scraper on an osage that was wavy, and he emphasized that the scraper followed the grain without cutting it.
I used my rig yesterday on my lam up of bamboo and vermilgo (very hard asian wood... like teak) and it was great, but I would agree, if I was really taking a split log stave down to the working size, this wouldn't be the answer... perfect for board bows and lam ups, though.
Dick in Seattle