The hardest part...

[lostarrow]

The only part I really hate is breaking them, but even that provides a learning experience. I have about five or six started at any one time so I can change things up pretty quick if one is getting boring or tedious.There is a laminated one  half finished hanging on the wall for a year now.It scares me .Hand planing the bamboo sliced me up pretty good,more than once.(I think it's cursed). If it doesn't take to tillering ,it's going to be a pretty dramatic blow.I find it's always good to have something else to occupy my mind while waiting for things to dry. You're the one that posted A.D.D aren't you?

[George Tsoukalas]

Sorry, PD. I prayed for your wife. I agonize over the first stringing and that last inch to full draw. Jawge

[Pat B]

Getting started is the hard part for me. Once I get started the rest is just fun.
 Debarking and removing sapwood from a well seasoned osage stave can be a real pain though.

[bubby]

All you arrow haters need to man up! You cant have a sweet truck without sweet tires and you cant have a sweet bow without sweet bullets for it. Nothing sets off a well finished bow like a well finished arrow in the chamber. I enjoy making arrows, and lots of 'em. Often times just to match the personality of a new bow.

i man up and make'em, but that don't mean i gotta like it, Bub

[PEARL DRUMS]

Sorry, PD. I prayed for your wife. I agonize over the first stringing and that last inch to full draw. Jawge

Thanks Jawgey Poo, we aprreciate that. She is doing great now, but the residual effects of the chemotherapy will never go away. Its both good and nasty stuff.

[dwardo]

Mine has to be heat treating 

Its the noise and the time it takes. You cant take your eye off it for a minute or burns. You cant hear the radio or the door knock. I don't use any power tools besides the heat gun because I like the quiet time or to be able to hear a play on the radio or some music.
I tend to end up with a queue of bows stuck at the Heat treat or correction stage.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Turn it up Dwardo! I cant work without some jams playing. I will get my heat gun set up and running on one side of the bench and be working on arrows or another bow on the other side.

[dwardo]

Turn it up Dwardo! I cant work without some jams playing. I will get my heat gun set up and running on one side of the bench and be working on arrows or another bow on the other side.

I kinda got that from your Drum-kit and nick name 
My little man has reign over the volume in the house and the only time I get to bow make is when he sleeps.

Soon,

[George Tsoukalas]

PD, I am going to put her on my prayer list. We've all been touched by that awful disease. Right now I'm watching my brother suffer, though he seems to be mending physically, he really has some emotional scarring from 9 surgeries in 3 years. In a word...cancer sucks. Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

Ok. Back to the topic. Pappy, hit on it. I'm getting older (64 yrs old) and getting started is always an issue. Once  I get started I do enjoy most of it. I must enjoy it because I've been doing it for a lot of years. Jawge

[SLIMBOB]

I know most of you guys are using a heat gun to temper.  I start a fire in my smokers fire box, close the lid, and once it's hot I'm off to the races.  Couple of spacers and I'm good.  No noise.  I sit back with a cold "Shiner Bock" and enjoy the birds, or twist strings...or just enjoy my beverage.

[k-hat]

Honestly for me i think someone else hit on it already, i think it was blackhawk.  I hate NOT working on my bows.  I think about it all day, even when i'm doing other stuff.  It's like that first high school crush you could never stop thinking about, cept this one never ends!!  Sometimes i just open the garage door and take a peek at my work area just to check on em and remind myself which problem or next step i'm supposed to be dwelling on while i'm doing all that other stuff i have to do!

Chris, as has been mentioned, our prayers are with your wife.  My grandmother (82 years old) is still doing chemo treatments for gall bladder cancer (had it diagnosed and removed almost two years ago) that spread to her lungs.  As Jawge said, it just sucks.  I'd almost take it for her rather than see her go through it.  She is made of the tougher stuff though, they just don't make em like they used too!!

[boughnut]

my prayers are with both of them hope they both pull through.

[coaster500]

Part I hate the most is having to stop!!! Sixty year of beat up joints, arthritis and broken bones puts a timer on my shoulders and elbows when it comes to pulling a draw knife, rasping and sanding.....  but I think I love it all??? Chasing a ring used to give me fits but I'm starting to enjoy that also...

Drums my thoughts are with you... nothing worse than watching those you love go thorough pain... 

Thank God she's doing well ...

[PEARL DRUMS]

This thread really took off more than I expected. Thats always fun. 

Chasing rings and ripping bark is one of my faves. I love that crunchy feel/sound osage gives you when your doing it right. I used to avoid super thin rings, now I dont even look at the ends of staves. I just grab one and go. Chasing whitewood rings will make you good at it in a hurry.

** Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers and comments all. She is doing well now, 18 months clear. But the mental part is always with us, you just cant shake it after the physical part is gone. Every twitch, every nagging pain, every bump all represent possible cancer in our minds, hopefully that subsides soon.