Broken bows and hurt feelings

[dwardo]

Taking it to the other extreme, if I havent broken a bow in a while then I am not trying anwywhere near hard enough.

[George Tsoukalas]

I've been making and breaking since '89. I have no idea how many I've broken but it is a lot. LOL.
14 before I got a hunting weight shooter.
Every broken bow is a learning experience.
Ask your wife to read my post and look at the the signature portion on the bottom.

Jawge

[sweeney3]

Man, I even broke a hickory bow about three years ago.  It was a sapling and had some weird kinks I didn't know how to handle then.  But yeah... Breaking is part of it. 

[Eric Krewson]

I would guess about 20, not sure as don't keep track, two or three exploding bows, the rest were bows that I sold or gave to people that cracked. I replaced all  the bows that belonged to other people. The post office broke a couple for me as well.

[NeolithicMan]

Almost as many broken as I have not broken!

[jflute]

Pretty new at this craft also. 1st bow broke took about 3 weeks before I was ready to depart with my stick. Now I'm onto my 2nd.

[IdahoMatt]

I have token my fair share.  I am relatively new to this, so it happens. I just broke one around Christmas for the trade, had to go with plan B.  The most important thing is to try and figure out why it broke and avoid that on you next one . 

[dbb]

6 broken i think,i dont really count.
As i got better at judging wood and what to do with it i have broken less but it still happens.

[Onebowonder]

In the Red Oak Board Bow Trade last year, I managed to break two and build two that came in W A Y underweight before I got one that was a winner and worthy of the trade.  I went into the trade pretty certain that building a board bow was going to be trivial since I had built many in the past and several good stave bows.  It happens.  It is just kinda the more meloncholy part of the fun. 

...and broken bow limb can be fashioned into great Atlatl's!  ...or back scratchers!  ..or camp spoon handles!  ...or tip overlays for other bows!

OneBow

 

[wizardgoat]

thanks everyone for your replies. We read them all this morning, and i think it took some of the sting
away! time to move on to the next one!

[Badger]

    I enjoy the process so much that I don't even think in terms of broken bows. The bows that break increase the intensity of the experience on the ones that don't break. When one breaks I tend to go back over my steps until I feel satisfied that I know why it broke. Maybe underdesigned for what I was asking out of it, maybe bad piece of wood or improper thickneses on a back or belly I glued up. Most of the time I can get a pretty good idea and it gives me something to watch for on the next build. I really enjoy the build and the tension and intensity of that last few inches of draw. Thats why I came up with the no set tillering tecnique, I get to have some intensity even earlier in the build.

[rossfactor]

3-5 or so and at twice that many with hinges.  The ratio of broken bows to successful shooters gets a lot better after the first 10-20 bows. I haven't broken a bow in a while (although I know it could happened any time -- no one is immune  ). Practice in stave selection and tillering is a big help. Don't know how many I've made, but its been about 12 years and I've made 5 to 15 a year. Probably somewhere around 100 bows. 

gabe

[kleinpm]

I think I have broken 8. I just broke a sweet rocky mountain maple d bow two weeks ago. My son likes to stand way to close the bow when I am tillering it with a pulley. I keep telling him to get back. Well this time he was about 4 feet away when it exploded. He finally go to see why I don't want him near the tillering tree. He doesn't go near it now.

I don't lose many that make it to the stage where I can shoot arrows out of them. I do as much on the tillering board as I can, so that is where i break them.

Patrick

[4dog]

broke one recently..i wasnt paying attention...could have put my eye out...wear eye protection ..go slow.

[Josh B]

I've broke more than I could count...even if I took my boots off.   It usually don't bother me too much.   The only ones I get upset over are the staves that I got from someone else or a species that i don't have easy access to.   You definitely learn as much or more from the ones that fail as you do with the successes.  Keep your chin up and keep at it.  I've found that a little struggle and strife along the way helps to enrich the experience when you do finally attain your goal.  Good luck!  Josh