Your Best Rookie Mistake?

[DuBois]

I have made a lot of mistakes in my short time working on bows and am sure I am currently making more but at least they are not usually the same ones over again.
I guess that would be what it's about; progress.
I look back and think "man I was dumb", and I will surely do the same in another year.

I am wanting to hear rookie mistakes that us new guys can learn from and you oldtimers can laught at 

I somehow missed the section that talked about long string tillering until after killing several bows that may have been really good otherwise.
I spent hours working on an elm stave that I still think would have been a real good bow, I then promptly tried to brace itand was almost strong enought to get it there and then CRACK. I felt so stupid when I read about this thing called "long string tillering"!!

[Del the cat]

One of the easiest to make is working on the wrong limb
These days I always tiller with top limb to the right and the toggle on my tillering string (which I use to adjust it's length) also to the right.
One of the hardest lessons I learned was how to saw the right side of the line.
I was just a school kid and was making a crossbow with the prod made from a leafsping from a car. The taper was marked out as basically 3 straight line cuts.
So cut line one, saw off the scrap, cut line two saw off the scrap, cut line three. One side finished That looks good.
Now bear in mind this is pretty hard steel and a pretty long spring.
Turn it over, start again...
Cut line one, saw off the tip  bwahhhhhhhh!
My brother helped me out, we got another spring and took it in turns 5minute shifts and we got another one cut, still took us 20 mins to saw that bad boy.
Del

[sleek]

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...

[dwardo]

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...

That's my favourite one to do.

[Olanigw (Pekane)]

Working when tired;

I sharpened the false edge of my knife then tried using it as a draw knife >.<   Tired

My belt sander was slow hogging off wood so I tested the grit with my thumb.  Tired

Tried to fell a tree against gravity.  Tired

[PEARL DRUMS]

My best rookie mistake was not listening to the "basics" being told to me from experienced bowyers.

[Slackbunny]

My rookie mistake was attempting a complicated laminated recurve design for my first bow. Needless to say, it blew up before I got to brace.

I've also made quite a few bad cuts with the bandsaw and gotten a little too aggressive with the belt sander a few times.

[lesken2011]

I have made too many to list here, but one I remember was on one of my first 2 or 3 bows, I was in the final tillering stage...

First a little background. When I made my tiller tree which is mounted on the wall, I used a hand drill to drill holes for pegs to insert for various draw lengths. (not all the holes are completely perpendicular to the stud.

Anyway. I pulled the bow down to the 23 in. peg, or so, and walked back to view it from a distance and get a pic. Just as I turned around, the bow shot up in the air about 10 or 15 feet, then fell to the ground snapping off the tip overlay. I thought it blew up, but realized later that the peg was crooked and it just slipped off the peg. I really felt like an idiot that I didn't notice the peg had an upward slant. Believe it or not, I was able to replace the tip overlay and salvage the bow.

[seabass]

i love character bows.when i first started,i tried to use challenging peices of wood like snakey osage staves.i figured that if i master one of those,the rest would be easy.i want to tell you that it don't work that way.after ruining alot of nice staves,i started looking for straight,clean staves with thicker rings.

[bushboy]

Impatience!!!!

[Pat B]

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.

[simson]

Impatience!!!!

me too

[Knapper]

My first bows where board bows. After cluing up a lam. And roughing it in, I went to put a string on it and it broke at the fade. So what did I do? Start over ,build, string, break!!! Then I realized that I wasn't  leaving enough handle into the fades. There went a week of work

[Gordon]

Taking wood off the belly without a plan.

[SLIMBOB]

I think what Pat B said above about patience is right on.  For me, I can only work on a bow for so long at a stretch before I stop.  Put it down and walk away.  Wait an hour or a day or maybe a week before I pick it back up.  Surprising how often my perspective has changed as well as my judgement about a particular....somthin somthin.  My rookie mistakes, regrettably, I'm still making them just not as often.  I used a spring clamp the other day to hold a bow on my bench while I heat bent the handle.  The little rubber sleeve on the tip slipped just enough to where the sharp metal edge was resting on the belly of my bow.  As I applied pressure, yep.  Fortunately, I spotted it before it was very deep so I was able to sand it out.  Took a break at that point!  I've said before, it's not a race for me.  I love makin' bows.  Think I'll get started now.