Cool bow! Reminds me of a story I read in an old 50's Archery Mag, The National Bowhunter; Chester Stevenson wrote about making a bow in the 1890's on his relatives farm one summer, as he had no archey equipment with him and he had plenty of time on his hands. He used 2 Hickory (or perhaps Ash, I'll have to dig out the magazine), shovel or pitchfork handles and an iron pipe or fitting as a sleeve/handle. If I remember, he said it was heavy, both in pull and carrying weight, #55 or #60, and he used it on game, including a coyote.
That is a neat bow Mudd! How many hours did you work on it?