The hardest part...

[seabass]

i hate sanding,but i love to make arrows.just got some red osier dogwood shoots from my good buddy Tim.never tried the stuff,but i am ready to go.also have some multi-flora rose that i just cut when i was in the woods this weekend.arrows are my thing.

[JW_Halverson]

Wow, this thread went up like a bottle rocket. 

I for one, really love chasing growth rings on osage.  I adore the butt-crack of dawn moment when I line the stave up with the rising sun along the stave to highlight the grain and I find the centerline.  Drawing outy the limb profiles is like Christmas Morning.  Rroughing it out and shaping the grip is utterly satisfying.  Sewing on a leather grip and twisting up the string is pure joy. 

I detest tillering.  I prefer the prospects of unanesthetized Third World dental surgery from a syphalitic witch doctor with palsey over facing time in the garage tillering. 

Oh, and I really don't enjoy shooting bows.  I'm in this for the making of bows, not that big into shooting.  Odd huh?

[Arrowind]

Sanding.  That's the hardest/worst part for me.  I hate sanding.  I think I have it done and I'll start burnishing it and I'll find 10 spots with tool marks.  Sand some more burnish some more and then I'll find 11 tool marks   

I enjoy sealing a bow.  I use tru-oil and its fun to see a finished bow really start to shine.  Pearly has me sold on dipping the sinew backed bows though.  I'm going to try that on my next one.

yeah...I agree.  I like seeing it come out nice and smooth but getting there...frustrating sometimes.

[k-hat]

I detest tillering.  I prefer the prospects of unanesthetized Third World dental surgery from a syphalitic witch doctor with palsey over facing time in the garage tillering. 

Oh, and I really don't enjoy shooting bows.  I'm in this for the making of bows, not that big into shooting.  Odd huh?

Interesting J-dub.. i wouldn't say i don't enjoy shooting, but i understand where your coming from.  I got into this to make a bow so i could shoot, but i would say i really do enjoy making them much more than shooting.  Glad i'm not the only oddball

[JW_Halverson]

But the best part, bar none, for me....is when someone asks to look at my bows, gets really excited, is surprised when I let them shoot it, and then the look on their face when I tell them to keep it.  Yeah.  That's the best.  Very very very best part.  But in this crowd, that's probably pretty much normal.

[toomanyknots]

Sanding.  That's the hardest/worst part for me.  I hate sanding.  I think I have it done and I'll start burnishing it and I'll find 10 spots with tool marks.  Sand some more burnish some more and then I'll find 11 tool marks   

I enjoy sealing a bow.  I use tru-oil and its fun to see a finished bow really start to shine.  Pearly has me sold on dipping the sinew backed bows though.  I'm going to try that on my next one.

I agree. The worst part is when you sand so much that it changes the tiller, so you have to correct it, and than sand some more.

[Weylin]

I hate sanding and filing the string grooves. I think if I had a better file for the string grooves I could change my attitude on that but for now it takes me forever to do it. But there's nothing that will make me like sanding. I enjoy pretty much all other aspects of bow making though.

[Bryce]

I hate sanding and filing the string grooves. I think if I had a better file for the string grooves I could change my attitude on that but for now it takes me forever to do it. But there's nothing that will make me like sanding. I enjoy pretty much all other aspects of bow making though.

I use a coping saw to carve a triangle groove. This finish with the nock file. Goes real quick

[Carson (CMB)]

Waiting for sinew backing to cure is torture...though I have found that starting 2-3 more bows during the drying of the sinew provides sufficient remedy for the pain and sleeplessness.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Sanding can become quick and painless if you gently clean up after yourself as you go. I use 3 sheets of sandpaper max and about 15-20 minutes worth of work. I may lose a pound at most.

[H Rhodes]

I don't like the finishing work...  I have come to a point where I have two or three shooters laying around that need sanding and finishing...  My shop reaks of bow mania.  Maybe my finishing work will get better with proper hygiene.

[k-hat]

I'm with you PD, don't do near as much sanding to finish as i used to.  The main thing that needs it is the sides and a little on the back.  I finish tiller with a fine scraper (a razor actually), so by the time its done the belly is babybutt smooth and maybe just needs a touch up around the edges.

[Patches]

Two thinks are hard for me.  The first is the debarking and taking sapwood off osage.  The second is the waiting while the tree I just cut dries and cures.  I have not been at this long, so I have a pile of bow wood curing right now that I will not touch for a while, and it kills me.  I see the beautiful bows on here and want to get started but hte wood still is too wet.  I am looking at makiing a drying box...

[PEARL DRUMS]

I said the same thing Patches, now I have a big pile of gorgeous, dry, yellow wood. Its worth the wait pal.

[johnston]

Roughing to shape. I don't use electricity and the handsaw, draw knife, coarse rasp,scrapers, hell man, that's
just plain work. The rest is zen doodle magic.
 Unless the damn thing breaks.