This is a character trait that many of you experienced bowyers seem to have, and one I deeply respect. It's a tricky one to "work on" cause whenever someone thinks they have it, they don't. Anyway, I got a lesson in humility tonight...
A friend of mine has been wanting to go traditional with hunting because he feels it is just too easy to kill a deer with a compound bow, and he wants to have a more traditional/natural experience. I offered to make him a bow and he gratefully accepted.
He has a 26" draw, so I made him a sugar maple flatbow that drew 45# at 26". I used Steve's no set tiller approach and never pulled it past 45# or 26".
I excitedly brought the finished bow to a weekly gathering and everyone was "oo"ing and "ah"ing. My friend had not arrived yet. Another friend (a much bigger and stronger individual) asked if he could try pulling it back.
Ego in full force I said, "yeah, of coarse!" He asked, "are you sure it won't break?" And I said, "positive!" I didn't even consider that this guy might pull it way past 26, which he did. We all got quite a jolt when the bow exploded into quite a few pieces.
He felt terrible (as you can see from the pic) and it was then I got my lesson in humility. I tried to explain to him that he should not feel badly at all; that I should have told him not to pull it back too far, and that it's the nature of making all-wood bows, sometimes they break.
