When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?

[toomanyknots]

cool topic

I think I'm probably a level 3 bowyer...

I still haven't figured out how to make a +2 bow along with magic arrows....I have a looooong way to go. 

Just spam like 40 or 50 red oak board bows, they're like 5 experience points each...

[Pretzelcoatl]

Just spam like 40 or 50 red oak board bows, they're like 5 experience points each...

If that is true then i have five experience points

[Buckeye Guy]

Ok folks
I have decided
I am now the in charge person or whatever you call the president of a guild !
So I say we are all bowyers and that is the end of the discussion !
Well all of us but me that is !!
Guy
Good night and sleep tight !

[George Tsoukalas]

I just tell people I make bows. I never use the term bowyer. TMI. I still get blank looks. They think I make bows for wrapping presents. Then I explain what I do and then they seem to understand. Jawge

[JackCrafty]

Bows for wrapping presents... now that's funny!   And very true.

[Sempertiger]

I was picking up some linen for backing, for my daughters bow, at the fabric store. The lady that was cutting it asked what I was making and I said that I'm making a bow, and needed the linen to reinforce it, so it didn't explode and hurt anyone. She gave me a wierd look then continued cutting.

she had an even less pleased look on her face after I explained what type of bow I was talking about... Some people just can't understand life without technology... It was a sad day

JS

[PAHunter]

There does seem to be a difference between saying that you do something and saying that you are something.  Though the word’s definition may not require it, most feel a bit hesitant to describe themselves as something they are not quite proficient in.  That is, something that doesn’t truly describe a portion of who we are, perhaps beyond the craft itself.

I have taken martial arts for 25 years and have studied many styles.  However for a great deal of time I would have described myself as a student or say “I take martial arts”.  However at this point martial arts has affected who I am, how I view myself, and how I view the world.  I can say with pride, I am a martial artist. 

So though I may technically be a bowyer, having made bows, I would not yet describe myself as one.  I hope that someday this passion will have affected who I am as a person in a profound way.  I will then describe myself as a bowyer.   

[Jude]

If you NEVER think about a bow breaking as your building it and assume all of them will hold together fine........you come a good ways towards being somebody in the bow building arena.

I got to that point through no increase of my own skill.  I just switched to hickory and no matter how bad my tillering was, they still seemed to hold together.   I like to think I've progressed since those dark early days though.

Julian

[druid]

When start to earn money from bowmaking...?!

[paulsemp]

If I turned archery into a living, I would hate it. As soon as money plays into something all the fun is sucked out of it for me.

[Jude]

Funny how such a simple little question brought out so many responses  

[Sidewinder]

I enjoy these types of discussions... so long as they stay friendly, and this one certainly has. You guys are great fun .   Danny

[Arrowind]

cool topic

I think I'm probably a level 3 bowyer...

I still haven't figured out how to make a +2 bow along with magic arrows....I have a looooong way to go. 

Just spam like 40 or 50 red oak board bows, they're like 5 experience points each...

ha ha ha love it!   I think may be at level 4 in a few years or so....

[toomanyknots]

I was picking up some linen for backing, for my daughters bow, at the fabric store. The lady that was cutting it asked what I was making and I said that I'm making a bow, and needed the linen to reinforce it, so it didn't explode and hurt anyone. She gave me a wierd look then continued cutting.

she had an even less pleased look on her face after I explained what type of bow I was talking about... Some people just can't understand life without technology... It was a sad day

JS

Been there a bunch of times. I laugh at them anymore. I don't mind the normal person, or one of my old friends, etc. But, like, my wifes nephew came over a while ago, I showed him some bows. He is like 12. "so, does the string actually stretch on those", he says. LOL Trying to get him interested. But then, when all I get is weird looks, as he runs off to go get on facebook and play with his cell phone ( gods know why he even needs one) it just makes me sad. When I was his age I would love to go launch a needle point bodkin into a car door.

[Jude]

Been there a bunch of times. I laugh at them anymore. I don't mind the normal person, or one of my old friends, etc. But, like, my wifes nephew came over a while ago, I showed him some bows. He is like 12. "so, does the string actually stretch on those", he says. LOL Trying to get him interested. But then, when all I get is weird looks, as he runs off to go get on facebook and play with his cell phone ( gods know why he even needs one) it just makes me sad. When I was his age I would love to go launch a needle point bodkin into a car door.

Reminds me of a time I was speaking with my oldest boy's teacher when we lived in Alaska, 2nd or 5th grade, I can't recall.  I said something along the lines that "It's only natural that a boy his age will be interested in guns and bows and hunting..."  The teacher, only a few years older than me, replied "Maybe for you and me that was true, but most kids today are only interested in video games and Pokemon cards."  It was then that I knew we must be doing something right.  It astounds me that my kids knew nothing of baseball before we took them to little league.  With me deployed half the time, I wasn't around to show them, and they don't pick it up on the playground anymore; I don't think they are allowed to bring a bat to school anymore for fear of it being a weapon.