I bought a recurve bow about 15 years ago. I started shooting a recurve bow about one year ago! Several of my friends started shooting bows about 1993. They were all shooting compounds,I had an old PSE compound that I had gotten when I was 16. I had always shot it instinctiv, no sights, no relese. Everyone told me I neaded a new bow, so one day I walked into a bow shop in Ft. Worth with 400 dollers in my pocket. Well one of the salesmen and I walked around for an hour with him showing me bows and then telling me all the other crap I needed to make it work. Over in a corner there were some pegs on the wall with some dusty recurves on them. I saed what about these? He saed you dont want one of those.I had already formed an opinion about this guy so I walked away from him and picked up a bow. It was a DamonHowett mamba, and I thout it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I walked out with the mamba, a stringer and six arrows. I was so proud. I couldn't whait to show my friends.They all looked at me like I had two heads! I didn't care,I had my beautiful bow and I was going to learn to shoot it. Well I didn't. I couldn't hit aneything with it no matter how much I shot. It viberated and made lots of noise and was not fun at all. So I quit. I hung it on the wall and it stayed there for 14 years. it was still pretty, and I even took It down and looked at it now and then. I was always a little sad that something that looked so nice was actualy a "BAD BOW". Then one day I was on the net and came across this site. I started reading the posts and I couldn't get enough,I read endlessly for weeks and without joining or asking one question within a month I had learned the string that they had given me was 4 inches to short and I had the wrong arrows! I learned how to measure brace hight and tune my bow. I learned how to cant the bow and proper form all from reading this site. Now I have a beautiful bow that is also a pure joy to shoot! You can bet if had found one of those other sites first, the ones where someone will start a thred and then they all spend the next 3pages saying snotty things to each other and fighting, that that bow would still be hanging on the wall beeing a "BAD BOW" . I cant belive how long this is. I have never typed this much in my life. I apolagise for the lingth and for my terable spelling,but I just had to give my testimony to all of you wonderful,generous, and graceous ladies and gentlmen. And to all you people that run this site I would like to thank yall for a wonderful place to go and spend time and learn and share with what have to be some of the best people on earth. If everybody I had to deal with in life conducted themselvs the way we do around hear I would never have a bad day ......Thanks john "EL OSO"