Author Topic: First Time Bows, What a Change!  (Read 8260 times)

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Offline Del the cat

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #15 on: March 23, 2015, 06:36:21 am »
How many "first bows" are really actual first attempts? I don't s'pose many newbies will post their failures/
@Mike... I'm sure they'll have some failures lurking round the corner waiting to pounce on 'em and go 'tick' then BANG >:D
Del
Health warning, these posts may contain traces of nut.

Offline Pappy

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #16 on: March 23, 2015, 08:17:38 am »
Agree Eric, the learning curve has certainly been shortened a bit it seems over the years.  :)
A lot of the beginners amaze me.  :)
   Pappy
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Life is Good

Offline Badger

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #17 on: March 23, 2015, 08:44:55 am »
  Primitive Archer has played a big roll in this. Archery is kind of a strange hobby in that it was virtually lost for a few generations save a handful of holdouts that kept it going. I guess about 30 years ago it started comming back to life and it was a little rough going for a while.

Offline make-n-break

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #18 on: March 23, 2015, 09:18:14 am »
I'm in the same boat as arachnid. Learned a massive amount of info from forums, videos, and search engines and completed a good dozen bows before ever buying any of the popular bowyers' literature. The Internet is a beautiful tool. I feel like it's progressed the overall knowledge and information accessibility of mankind more than any other time in history.

I feel like another factor is the cheap and available tools. I don't know how it was back in the day, but you can walk into almost any department store, home improvement store, or tool store and leave with a bag of everything you need to whip out presentable bows for well under a hundred bucks. It's essentially a one time investment that opens up this art to many who are financially pressed and might not otherwise be able to afford it.
"When making a bow from board staves you are freeing a thing of dignity from the humiliation of static servitude." -TBB1

Offline CrazyHorse1969

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #19 on: March 23, 2015, 09:41:21 am »
Is it better in the long run for someone to make a great bow first time....or to take ten to learn how to?

Good question. I have learned plenty from my mistakes. And, for me, it is never really the destination (a "perfect" bow) but rather the journey getting there, mistakes or otherwise.
"For if he like a madman lived, at least he like a wise one died." ~ Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Offline CrazyHorse1969

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #20 on: March 23, 2015, 09:44:25 am »
Also...

The Primitive Archer Community--in other words, you guys (and gals)--are an invaluable source for newcomers. I probably know 10%--well, maybe 15% ;), of what most of you guys/gals know about building primitive bows. I still regularly muck things up, but the advice I get here is generally quick and polite. So the muck ups are on me, and I can live with that. But with sound support, I get a bit better each time too. And, most importantly, I have a heck of a lot fun doing it.
"For if he like a madman lived, at least he like a wise one died." ~ Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #21 on: March 23, 2015, 10:15:39 am »
Not patronizing bows with real issues helps a bunch in my opinion. Not just the builder of said bow, but the dozens of folks reading the thread silently and learning as they go. We've seen plenty of split opinions on this matter and several "warm" threads discussing it, but in the end the honest critiquing helps the most.

Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline JoJoDapyro

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #22 on: March 23, 2015, 11:15:50 am »
As I have said before PD. I would rather have one guy comment on the issues with my bows rather than have 500 views and no comments.
If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got.
27 inch draw, right handed. Bow building and Knapping.

Offline Jim Davis

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #23 on: March 23, 2015, 11:26:37 am »
+1 on the above two.

Jim Davis
Jim Davis

Kentucky--formerly Maine

Offline jeffp51

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #24 on: March 23, 2015, 12:32:34 pm »
I think it is ironic that the end goal of the work is a primitive bow that draws us back to thousands of years of bowmaking tradition--but would have been utterly impossible for me without the aid of the most modern technology of the internet.

Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #25 on: March 23, 2015, 01:03:51 pm »
It is ironic. I've had some folks up to make a bow and they make one and that is it.

Seems the only way I can pass it on is through the internet.

Jawge
Set Happens!
If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin!

Offline Buckeye Guy

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #26 on: March 23, 2015, 04:06:38 pm »
What a journey the past 30 years have been !
Before that it was hunt and peck away and not on the keyboard either .
and oh ya lots of FG dust most of which is still in my lungs
 it's been 39 years since I have glued up a Glass bow
Boy was I glad to get away from that junk
I am tickled with how things are going in archery today and with so many folks doing there own it should continue for way after I am gone  :) :)
Keep up the good work folks
Guy Dasher
The Marshall Primitive Archery Rendezvous
Primitive Archery Society
Having  fun
To God be the glory !

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #27 on: March 23, 2015, 04:09:12 pm »
The last three students I had in my shop were work horses, very refreshing, at least a dozen that came before them never completed a bow.

Offline Ardent

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Re: First Time Bows, What a Change!
« Reply #28 on: March 23, 2015, 06:01:07 pm »
How many "first bows" are really actual first attempts? I don't s'pose many newbies will post their failures/
@Mike... I'm sure they'll have some failures lurking round the corner waiting to pounce on 'em and go 'tick' then BANG >:D
Del

No way, I'm going to share every victory and definitely every failure. I would want you guys to help give a broken bow an autopsy so I can avoid future mistakes.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2015, 07:57:01 pm by Ardent »