lilhunter, dang your getting ahead of me:) what your seeing is an 18" 3/16" center lam, its put in to keep the handle area from bending, my slats are 7/16" - 1/2" when glue up and I feel like that area needs additional beefing up.
There reason the Bulls in the shop is that I don't have ceilings bid enough to have it in the house... believe me I've tried:)
JD