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Author Topic: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow  (Read 3694 times)

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Offline hoosierf

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Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« on: May 31, 2018, 01:08:06 pm »
I thought this might be a fun topic and perhaps an opportunity to learn a few things to avoid in your journey. I’ll start.

One time i had the brilliant idea that i could heat treat a braced bow just a little bit to stiffen a weak spot.  No surprise the limb i was heating folded like a polyester suit. Total failure to stop and think.

Doh!
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Offline Badger

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2018, 01:17:42 pm »

   just a couple of weeks ago I was cleaning up a stave. I usually clean up all 4 sides so there is no splinters and reduce the belly and sides a bit in the process. I hadn't chased the final ring yet but had the back pretty well cleaned up to take the final ring. I thought I was on the belly of the bow and not the back and I started reducing it. I caught it just barely in the nick of time and all was well.
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Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2018, 01:19:41 pm »
Splitting staves without safety glasses.  A chunk of steel flew off and hit me right between the eyes with a lot of force.  It felt like I had been punched.  If that piece of steel had been an inch left or right I would have lost an eye. 


When I first started out making bows I cut a lot of osage staves to let them season.  I thought a stave had to be perfectly straight with really thick rings.  I burnt a huge pile of staves because I thought they weren't good enough. 
« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 01:27:07 pm by osage outlaw »
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I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline Bayou Ben

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2018, 01:23:46 pm »
When I 1st started building bows I heard that bamboo was good for a backing, so I quickly headed to my nearest box store and picked up a bamboo flooring accent strip piece.  I hand planned it down and glued it to a red oak board.  Within a few pulls it splintered....Felt pretty dumb after I figured out what bamboo they were taking about  :o
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2018, 02:17:48 pm »
You know how you get in a groove....well I was movin' and groovin', hummin' and strummin', and feelin' the mood. Cut the nocks on the limb bass-ackwards.  Saul Goodman, it's all good, man! I laid it out with a few extra inches, we just saw off the tips and SONOFA...YA FECKLESS MOW-RON, YA DONE WENT AND CUT 'EM BACKWARDS AGAIN!

 )-w(
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Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline Pat B

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2018, 02:30:20 pm »
I bent recurves, one up, one down. Made it hard to brace.  ::)
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline bjrogg

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2018, 02:43:54 pm »
Was multi tasking when I noticed that steam was looking kinda blue. Sure enough ran out of water and burned the tip off my bow.
Bjrogg
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A hot cup of coffee and a beautiful sunrise

Offline TorstenT

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2018, 03:18:10 pm »
I can second that, bjrogg!  :D
Another candidate for the saplingbow-contest suffered the same fiery fate. I steamed in the first recurve and stuffed the second tip under the aluminum foil hood without checking the water level. The pic shows the result...

@JW_Halverson
Reading your post I was actually laughing out loud. Thanks for that - feels good after a rather shiddy day...  :OK

Torsten
« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 03:36:36 pm by TorstenT »
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Offline bushboy

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2018, 03:44:59 pm »
Using b55 on first brace for a highly stressed bow.went from a 4" brace to a reverse brace in about 5 seconds!
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Some like motorboats,I like kayaks,some like guns,I like bows,but not the wheelie type.

Offline aaron

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2018, 03:49:53 pm »
For my first bow i chose a VM stave with over 6 inches reflex.
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Ilwaco, Washington, USA
"Good wood makes great bows, but bad wood makes great bowyers"

Offline NorthHeart

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2018, 09:20:48 pm »
Ok, ok ill go.  I really wanted to do it from the ground up, ya know.  Spent an entire day cutting down Osage trees and halving them, i mean a lot of wood here.  Sealed the ends and spent all night removing the bark with a draw knife.  Wait your supposed to leave the bark on for a while? oops )-w(  Probably $1000 in wood dry checked into uselessness, sure did burn nice and hot in the fire.  (=)  Next week went out and cut more.  Some mistakes are made only once in a lifetime.
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Offline GlisGlis

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2018, 02:32:37 am »
I put a BL piece into the microwave to test  bend when I had a phone call
My chatting was interrupted by the smoke that filled the house  )-w(
now i  know it is possible to make charcoal in the microwave
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Offline Ryan Jacob

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2018, 04:05:51 am »
Well, on my current stave, I worked the back instead of the belly while not paying attention, so now it’s gonna be a sinew backed one, And there was this other time I tried to heat bend a, entire sapling and destroyed my improvised chair vice and the stave of guava in the process.
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Offline FilipT

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2018, 04:55:56 am »
Did this several times:
What I did wrong several times before is to leave too little wood on belly thickness taper. When I get to the tillering I was already having too little wood to work with. Because of this several my bows become underweighted.
Maybe it doesn't sound to someone like a big deal, but to me that is the stupidest thing I have done. If I just left a bit more wood I would have been pleased. But I learned since then!
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Offline GlisGlis

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Re: Dumbest thing you’ve ever done while building a bow
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2018, 05:12:15 am »
Quote
  I burnt a huge pile of staves because I thought they weren't good enough. 

it all started as an hilarious thread and now I'll cry for the rest of the day  :D
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