Is this true: "A bow full drawn is 7/8 broken." ?

[dwardo]

Hmmm 7/8th broken...
So that's like Microsoft software then?
Del

More like half finished.

[JW_Halverson]

The word you are grasping for, Del, is hyperbole.  The statement uses exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.

(this was freely stolen from Wikipedia, so it HAS to be true)

As for 8/8 broken, I can attest to those.  I've even seen a yew longbow do what I believe to be a 9/8th trick.  Some bits even penetrated sheetrock, luckily no one bled out. 

[Del the cat]

Whew, thanks for that JW it was driving me crazy...
Del
Mind I thought Hyper-bole was summat to do with your Superbowl 

[JW_Halverson]

The Hyper Bowl is sponsored by Red Bull Energy Drink and the American Sugared Cereal Association.

[Hrothgar]

"I say ya don't know till ya got a broken bow. I had one that was 8/8 broken at full draw! Lol"

Only one? I've had a couple 8/8 broken at 2/3 draw 

[bubby]

it's a bow till it breaks, heck i've had some only half drawn and broke, Bub

[Almostpighunter]

I understand the mentality behind this statement, and it makes for fun and interesting philosophical consideration (not to mention a comforted ego/soul when a bow does fail) but I don't agree.

To me, saying something is 7/8 broken means that the object already started to "fail" and thereby is only holding together by a proverbial thread. I do not feel that bows are in that particular state.

Now this may be splitting hairs or simple semantics, but I feel the statement should be more along the lines as follows:

"A properly tillered bow achieves maximum performance when drawn to 7/8 of its breaking point."

In this case the bow is intact, but stressed to the point just before the forces acting on it overwhelm its design.

Food for thought.

[Hrothgar]

Pighunter, I agree with your statements. If a bow is starting to show chrysalis (sp?), or even, debateably, taking set, then either the wood or the design has begun to fail....and drawing the bow further won't accomplish anything favorable.

[JackCrafty]

That's just a clever statement.  It's not good advice.  It's like saying "You are 7/8 dead at 70".

There may be, however, people who tiller bows this way.  This is a poor method and leads to premature failure of the bow.  Recent bow building observations tell us that if you are within the elastic limits of the wood at full draw, you are not near beakage.  In other words, you cannot count the distance that the string travels while the bow is within the elastic limit.

[Del the cat]

...  It's like saying "You are 7/8 dead at 70"....

That's really cheered me up this morning
Del

[George Tsoukalas]

 I think I first read that saying in the Witchery of Archery but can't remember. That saying has been around for a long while. LOL. It's just a saying like when I say, "Set happens" or "If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin' " ! Jawge