Ever had a bad day in the shop?

[Osagetree]

Today was mine,,,, I don't know if it was the heat or me just not having as much patience today.
Had a hickory roughed out bow that had about 3" natural reflex and the potential for a 60# draw. My tillering was so poor today that I am down to 45# @ 28" and about 1 of set. Still not happy with the tlliering as it is not bending enough towards the fades.
Then I heat bent a character osage to my caul but, apperently over heated it in several sections causing a few checks on the back. Took off a couple rings and the checks are gone but a good heavy weight bow is now going to be a light bow.
I hate these days but that is where you learn,,, if you're not too hard headed and don't make the same mistakes or give up first out of frustration!

[DVSHUNTER]

I know how it feels joe. To me though, all those things are what keep me working to get better.  Each problem has lots of solutions, lots of fun.  With good things come bad... yada yada yada!  
  I tell you what, just send me that little 45 pounder and that way it won't bother you anymore.  ;-)  keep on smilin.

[Roy from Pa]

Lot's of them:) Especially when I cut out a BBO bow and it ends up being left handed. I'm right handed:) Or I try to heat a bow limb to correct a problem and then realized I had it strung:) That one really hurt:)

[walkabout]

oh yea ive had my share. one was when i had my cousins longbow almost finished, drawing perfect tiller but still too heavy, so i scraped a bit and excercised and bang. top limb flew across the shop, broke clean. another time was when i was sanding fades on a bow and the belt sander didnt agree with it. lots more but you get the point... all part of the challenge in making a bow, never really know what to expect till youre completely done.

[razorback]

Or I try to heat a bow limb to correct a problem and then realized I had it strung:) That one really hurt:)  

Sorry about that one, but it made me laugh. Done stuff like that myself.

[JamesV]

 How about cutting the string knock backwards?

[Pat B]

How about bending one recurve towards the back and one towards the belly! d;^)
  Joe, one reason I stopped building bows for a year is because every day was getting like that. The bow I sent you was my therapy that broke those bad habits!...hopefully!!!

[Roy from Pa]

LOL razorback, I had to laugh too when I did it:) Darn PBR...

LOL Pat, how did it shoot?

[Hartung]

You made me laugh. Happy to see that I’m in good company :-).

[John Scifres]

I broke 7 bows in a row over about a month's time.  So I rarely have a "bad" day.  But I have had a bad MONTH!  It taught me to avoid getting too attached to a bow.

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by John Scifres:
I broke 7 bows in a row over about a month's time.  ....

It taught me to avoid getting too attached to a bow.

I think that statement has the most truth to it than i've read anywhere else on this site. My bad month isn't as bad as 7 bows.. yet, but I seem to be on that path.

After Purple Passion I started on black cherry. My first non red oak bow, which consisted of cherry for the bow, padauk and ebony for the riser and recurve tips. More exotic materials, simpler design, and it was coming out incredibly. But, there was always something. The riser wasn't shaped perfect for my liking, or the fact that one limb was tillering perfectly but the other wasn't even with the identically same thicknessed limbs. Then I couldn't get my flemish string to the correct length. Had to redo one end 4 times! Finally got her down to 52#s and while drawing her to 28" for some exercising I heard it. The knock that equalled a check on the lower limb. Ironically the limb that gave me no probs at that point. Glued that lil issue down and thought i'd be ok.

Finally, while trying to string her up with a method a friend taught me of trapping one tip in your shoe and bending the bow, I ripped a tip off the lower limb.

Now it's a 58" fire poker, and is set to take a position in the "Built & Broke 2010" thread.

At this point, i've decided i'm not building another bow until we move. Which could be hard cause we haven't heard anything about the 4th offer we've put in on a house, so who knows when that'll be.

Since visiting this site for the first time in January, there has been a bow on my bench everyday. But at this point, I'm not sure I can handle more heartache.

[Mark Smeltzer]

Just looking over some older threads.
I have had several bad runs it's either stupid mistakes or it just wasn't meant to be. Sometimes though I'll have many successes in a row.  I don't even get mad anymore, I used to be just crushed when I broke a bow or it just didn't work out.  I get a little P.O.ed if the bow was for someone who was waiting though.  I normally make 3-4 bows at a time and I just move on to the next.

Mark

[Kc kreger]

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 How about cutting the string knock backwards?
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Been there done THAT!  Keep your chin up  

[Jered Shofner]

First attempt at a recurve, I cut the limbs 4" short. That was 2 years ago. I just spent the last 3 weeks trying to finishing another, but have a limb twist I can't fix. Has anyone ever REALLY saved money building their own?

[Dublin Joe]

Jered, if I hadn't built a board bow I wouldn't have a bow.  My material costs so far are less than $25, and for that money I got two red oak 1X2's and a spool of B-50.  Granted I've spent a little more if you count string wax, field tips, and a stringer but this is a hobby I can pursue even though I have no money.

As for bad days in the shop... here in North Central Texas in the Summer they pretty much all suck.  It's 95 F on an average afternoon, and that's in the shop itself.  My horror stories revolve around sweating eyeballs, dizziness, and heat stroke.  Glue-ups dry pretty quick, though.

Joel

[fish n chicks]

I agree with Dublin Joe. This hobby pays itself off a million fold. Plus you get to make something you can actually use all the time. I use this example often but it proves it well: I'd rather make one bow than 12 duck decoys. Each decoy takes about as much time as a bow and I can only use them a month out of the year.

Heck for the cost of making a wooden bow (something like 20-30 bucks most of the time) I am glad to fill my shop with shavings.

[Loren Holland]

Fish,
my dad taught me to string a bow like that years ago, and when i first started doing this i thought to myself that stringers were only for recurves. I couldn't see why you needed one for a longbow. Except that stringing, unstringing during tillering was a royal pain and i actually cut my hand when a top limb broke and splintered all over me.  I started using a stringer after that. Now I make double knocked bows exclusively, and it is so simple i won't go back. Every ow i make to give away now, comes with a 14 strand string, and  a piece of parachute cord  for a  stringer thats all it takes.

oh and for my top stupid mistake...i cut a juniper off my dads place, cured it, a year later i went to cut it on the band saw and cut the back facing one direction on one limb, turned it around to cut the other limb when i was done realized the second limb was cuton the other side of the log so that i had a belly face me on one limb and a back facing me on the other limb...i cussed for a minute, then just cut off the riser section and saved it to glue onto a board later.