I am nearing completion. Hickory-ipe tri-lam is coming along. Need to glue on a riser as tillering is 99% complete.
Tillering has been quite time consuming due to this Ipe being fairly brittle. Also the belly lam is only about 5/32" thick at the butt end and 3/32 at the tips.
You can see how swirly the grain is, so I trapped the back, and really made sure all of the limb was bending nicely, even the working recurve.
The bow is fairly wide and long at just under 1.5" at the fades, and 68" AMO. So that probably helped the belly hold on.
I calculated the SG of this ipe to be between 1.27 and 1.35, much more dense than the more brown ipe I have been using (SG ~1.0).
I've shot it maybe 30 times at full draw, still holding a solid 1" reflex. Still need to bring the brace up maybe 1/4"-1/2"
This bow is by far the fastest I've built, and it is not nearly the heaviest. It has just taken such little set and it shows when you shoot it. It is flinging my ~600gr carbons with a ridiculous amount of authority. I have no doubt this bow is suitable for any vegetable eating game animal in NA.
Sadly all of that commotion produces a fair bit of noise, and handshock, so note to recipient: hope you have some seriously stiff and seriously heavy shafts to shoot through this bow. This bow is definately about lots of stored energy and not maximum dry fire speed.
full draw pics to come I a few days.