Your Best Rookie Mistake?

[missilemaster]

Narrowing already thin tips!   I still also have trouble sometimes with being patient, I get excited and caught up in the moment. I need a big sign in my shop that says "SLOW DOWN YOU MORON!!!" My younger brothers are sure glad to have my though!

[Bitterguy]

thinking this would make a good board bow

[Joec123able]

Biggest mistake I've ever tryed doing is roughing a really nice stave out with a drawknife and getting it down close to my lines and then accidentally tearing a big chuck of wood out. That's why I don't use a draw knife to Rough bows out any more I just take my time with a rasp

[Del the cat]

Once, while bending recurves in an osage bow I bent both recurves without incident until I realized one bent towards the back and one towards the belly.    And believe me this isn't the dumbest mistake I've made, just one I don't mind sharing. 
  I believe most of these mistakes we make is due to lack of concentration or trying to work through anger or impatience and not staying focused. This is why I harp on patience being your #1 bow making tool.

C'mon Pat... we want a picture of that one
Del

[Pat B]

That evidence was destroyed many years ago, Del. You'll just have to take my word for it. 

[bubby]

I once cut my nocks facing the wrong way... DOH! Sot a bow too close to a chair that had a chrono, the bow limb struck the chair and broke the bow, thats all i can think of for right now...


I can beat that, cut the nocks the wrong way, cut the tips off and did it AGAIN, compleat dumbass moment 

[Del the cat]

That evidence was destroyed many years ago, Del. You'll just have to take my word for it. 

Heck, you could probably have sold it to a compounder, if you told him it made it shoot faster
Del

[BOWMAN53]

I used to always cut my nocks the wrong way, that led me to using pin nocks exclusively lol. Not using a hanging scale led me to alot of under weight very light bows. I was afraid of pulling the bow too hard and causing unnecessary set.

[blackhawk]

My biggest mistake was deciding to make my own bow and thought I just needed to make one....boy was I wrong and now this stuff has taken over my life...HELP ME!!!!!!!     

[ScottN]

cutting string nocks the wrong way has been my mistake a few times. It isnt to bad because you still cut them off and re-do them, but then you lose the length that you wanted!

[sleek]

When I cut the nocks wrong, I cut them off, then glued on a laminate on the tip to make it thicker, like a glued on recurve, so that way I didnt need to shorten my string, and brace height didnt change...

[osage outlaw]

When weighing my bows I had measurements on the wall under my spring scale.  I didn't reallize that when I pulled down on the bow the hook on my scale pulled down as well.  I was reading the weight about 2" short of what I was tillering it to so all my bows were a little on the heavy side.  I'm ashamed to admit I just figured this out about a month or two ago   

[Poggins]

Sold and gave away ally seasoned wood before realizing I hadn't set any back fore myself, now I'm waiting for staves to season. And there is that first bow , I wanted a 45 to50 pound bow and ended up with one about 39 pounds , had plenty of wood to begone with just couldn't stop making those neat curly cues .

[Zion]

Using alder to make a bow, cutting the string grooves in the wrong direction, leaving the bow in front of the wood stove too long, making the handle too narrow, mishandling how to work certain woods that are extremely prone to tear-outs, ( serviceberry, hawthorn, birch.) The list goes on and on, but i've figured out what i like best and what works best for me so those kind of mistakes have stopped. The learning never ends.

[jimbows]

my worst so far was when I steamed a bow, recurved the tip and had bent it the wrong way. the worst part about it was i didnt even realize it until my wife said "shouldnt that be bent the other way" so now my new motto "check twice bend once"