Thanks guys for all the interest and kind words! appreciated much!
Those Garters were about a good 3'-4' long, they were big females, never knew it at the time, as I was making the vent cut up, little baby's were falling out! a buddy had them under his concrete steps there must have been hundreds that spring morning!He was terrified! lol.They just made the 1 3/4" width! They sat in my freezer for almost 7-8 years before I finally used em, doh, 1 was freezer burnt bad!
The grip is calf lacing you can get at any leather shop, my uncle was a leather smith (used to make saddles for the Calgary Stampede)and in his passing I aquiered all his stuff! I rather have him around though!
I find a wood bow has a life just like a human, treat it rough and without care and they won't last too long!,treat em kindly and they can remain with you forever.
A wood bow is built to take the stress of long brace times as well as built to take whatever drawlength they were created to.
Mostly when a wood bow is built it has an owner waiting for it, and is built to his particular draw so in essence a wood bow can last a very long time, you just have to take care of it! Its best not to pass it around letting all your friends draw it back, a different draw can actually break your bow, a self bow is about as custom as you can get, treat it right and it will treat you right!