Mind officially blown

[Ben.Kellerman]

I finished my first bow just about one month ago(maybe not even quite a month). Today I "finished" my 5th!  1st(red oak)and 2nd(hickory) were both basic pyramid board bows with thick handles and cut in shelfs.  3rd(hickory) and 4th(hickory) were basically tillered sticks I made for my 3yr old son and 5yr old daughter.  5th bow is were the mind blowing comes in to play.  Basically(there's probably a name for it?) I made a combination of the designs just because I wanted to make some shavings.  Pyramid design except with no glued on handle for thickness.  No cut in shelf.  Seemed pretty basic to me so I decided(with much regret) to try steam bending the tips as a first time trial.  Ended up with a splinter on one of the limbs back and a bunch of compression cracks on the belly.  I think I managed to salvage the bow with a ton more sanding and some super glue but this is not the point of the rant!  Long story short, I shot off my hand for the first time today with this bow and WOOOOOO!    Don't think I'll ever make another cut in shelf!  I pegged the dead center of my target from about 15yrds out with my first arrow(which I had yet to do with my other bows).   Dont know if it was just all luck or whatever but I was consistently shooting far more accurately.  Seemed like I could feel everything better!  Now the only "problem", gonna have to make another bow because of the earlier mentioned compromises to this one!!  Love this obsession!  Thank you all for the help along the way and for all the knowledge given out!

[barebo]

Sometimes when we let our instincts take over and don't over think the shot, the arrow finds the mark. Sounds like your ability to "feel" everything better might be just that?

You're on your way to becoming a wood shaving addict, and there are a lot worse things you could be doing! This site is a great place to help build your skills, and learn to build a better bow.
There are thousands of bows behind the guys here and the know how they'll share will get you there.

[Del the cat]

You sir are now officially an Englishman ... we don' need no steenking shelves or cut-aways
You gotta make an English longbow if you like smooooooooooooth.
Del 

[leonwood]

Oh you have the bug for sure! Prepare for many more years of addiction cause this bug is hard to get rid of;-)
And awesome without the shelf, like Del mentioned, you don't need no steenking shelve

[Bob Barnes]

congrats on the bows...your latest sounds a lot like Tim Baker's 'first bow' design.  I think this link might give you some more ideas... have fun.
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/paleoplanet69529/tim-baker-s-your-first-wooden-bow-reposted-with-ti-t47638.html