Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: DC on January 11, 2016, 04:37:39 pm
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Assuming of course that you get it to the shooting stage. Put another way, how many working bows do you have standing in the corner with temp nocks and no finish? Do you only finish the really nice ones?
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My corner of shame is pretty big...they're not all necessarily lost causes, I throw a lot of nearly done bows in the corner just because I get goin on something else. I never force myself to work on a bow,
even if it's nearly done.
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I throw a bow in the failure pile if I am making one for someone and it doesn't meet my lofty standards. The other day I took three bows out of the failure pile and reworked, retillered, heat treated and patched the flaws on them and made some really nice bows to give away. Two are gone and the third is waiting on a guy to pick-up, but he never showed up.
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Eventually i guess, i build when i want not cause i have too
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Does a wood burning stove count as finished... Only finish what deserves it, and that is certainly not all of em
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zero for me. If they are bows they get finished. I have plenty of projects laying around unfinished.
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I went for a number of years starting building selfbows as a winter project and if anything went wrong I would put if off until the next year. I guess after all these years I was ready to get serious and stick with it. I have been building bows and a finishing some of my past attempts.
I really don't plan on letting any sit half finished. When I get too many (is that possible?) I will give them away and start another.
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I pretty much finish all the survivors ;D
Occasionally I'll do an experimental bow that may get shelved in a shootable state, but then finally tarted up if it is to get serious use.
I recently tidied up a waggly old stick bow for field shooting as it was a few pounds lighter than my usual and I had a sore shoulder so wanted a lighter bow.
I have one that will take a full 32" draw that has been waiting about 3 years for a grip, but I only use it once or twice a year.
Depends on how you define finished ::).
Took me 40 years to put horn nocks on my first ever Yew ELB >:D
Del
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I see them through to the end and make each and every one as complete and nice as I can get them... like it's the last bow I'll ever make and I'm going to hand it to a Master bowyer for critique. Seriously.
I have several in the works at any given time, but nothing around I gave up on. If it didn't work out, I don't keep it, it gets burned. If one fails, I keep it long enough to understand why, then it gets burned the next time the scrap pile goes out. I've also moved 3 times since I began making bows and tend to really clean house before I move, so that helps ;)
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Every bow I finish I finish! ;)
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Over 50 at one time or another are in the garage in corners, up in the rafters, ect, ect unfinished. Sometimes someone will ask me if they can have one and I'll doctor it up before I hand it over. One thing though, I can't stand pure white wood to not get some sort of color added to it. It drives me nuts.
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Only finish the ones not for me. Mine, they can always get a finish later. Later hasnt come yet. Im more of a how it performs than how it looks guy, when it comes to my stuff. If you ever saw my truck you would know!
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like PatB said, every bow i finish, i finish.lol Tony
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I have made only 4 bows and 1 broke durring tillering and the other broke when shooting after about 150 arrows. All but the 1 tiller brake got finished. I figure a bow is not done till it has a handle wrap and a protective finish on it, if it brakes after that so be it and try to determine why it broke and learn from it. Dan
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Thanks for the replies. I'm on about my 30th bow. I've finished all of them mainly to practice my finishing. I got to this one, shot it a bunch and thought that it was nothing special, why finish it but then I had an idea for a finish so now I'm sanding. I think I was a bit full of myself when I thought that my finishing was good enough. I just have to look around here a bit :)
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I have recently started finishing a bunch of bows from my earlier attempts. So to answer your question....I guess I don't finish all of them. Once I'm thru the pile of shame maybe that will change.
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If I get a bow to shooting stage it gets finished. If it doesn't perform like I expect it to I'll finish it up and give it away for a kid to shoot or if someone wants a "wall hanger".
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i am usually working on quite a few bows,, once I get it too shoot, I may consider that finished,,sometimes I go back and revisit something from the past,,If I am going to give it away,,, I usually fix it up a bit,, if its my bow,, I just shoot them as is most the time,, but for someone else,, I put a handle finish etc,, I think I am working on about 10 bows now,,as time permits I hope to get them shooting,,, :)
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I finish them, even if they sit there for a few extra years in limbo first.
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I used to only finish a small fraction of bows. If I give them away I finish them. The last couple of years I have gotten better about finishing them. Now I might finish about 1/2 of them.
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If I make a bow and it shoots and doesn't break, I put a finish on it.
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I always have several going at one time not finished, but once I get it shooting and it is a good reliable bow it's gets finished, if I don't think it's a worthy good shooting reliable bow then I don't give it away or finish it, it gets cut up and I cook brats with it. ;) man need fire also. I have no need for a wall hanger and I sure don't want to give away a bow I don't want to shoot or there might be a problem with. ;)
Pappy
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About 19 out of 20--eventually. I've noticed that after a bow is stashed in the rafters for a year or two I can sometimes see an obvious area that needs a little tweaking.
There has also been a couple pieces of bow-shaped firewood that should never have been brought into the shop.
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In the back of my mind I always feel I might be able to tweak a bow out just a little bit more and I might be a little undecided about how I want to go about doing it. I also very much enjoy the process of building and tillering but not so much finishing. The only thing mine are usually lacking is a handle wrap and some fine finishing around the nocks and arrow rest area, I usually do seal them up with some tru oil.
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Now that you mention it all but one of my bows is finished. If my daughter need another I'll finish it up for her.
Jawge
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I'll finish it tomorrow...like the sign at the bar that says, "Free Beer Tomorrow"!
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If it suits my needs and performs like I want I finish it.From the beginning of making bows to now the designs have changed and gotten better I think.Still a lot out there.