Young newbies on the forum.

[Zugul]

Hi guys, I'm still in my early 20s so I think I'm kinda young myself. I'm from Italy and I'm also very new to bowmaking. Excuse me for my pretty basic english and for my slow understanding of tecnical words specific to bowmaking, I hope I won't bother you all too much with my silly questions   

[JW_Halverson]

Hi guys, I'm still in my early 20s so I think I'm kinda young myself. I'm from Italy and I'm also very new to bowmaking. Excuse me for my pretty basic english and for my slow understanding of tecnical words specific to bowmaking, I hope I won't bother you all too much with my silly questions   

We have another Italian speaker that drops by, though only very rarely anymore. Nomadic Pirate splits his time between Hawaii and Italy. He used to build some of the most interesting bows from the guava wood in Hawaii.

[Eric Krewson]

I had a new bow student fail yesterday, I just gave him a stave, a tillering tree, a gizmo and and an hour or so worth of advice. Actually I failed him, I should have had him in my shop at every step of the way and every time he had a question. He is a very busy guy and lives 40 miles away, I assumed he could pull it off but I was wrong.

The bad part is he said he was done with bow making.

I feel the same way when I read a newbies post here about broken bows, Dang, I wish I could get them in my shop for a few days to get them headed in the right direction.

[RyanY]

I had a new bow student fail yesterday, I just gave him a stave, a tillering tree, a gizmo and and an hour or so worth of advice. Actually I failed him, I should have had him in my shop at every step of the way and every time he had a question. He is a very busy guy and lives 40 miles away, I assumed he could pull it off but I was wrong.

The bad part is he said he was done with bow making.

I feel the same way when I read a newbies post here about broken bows, Dang, I wish I could get them in my shop for a few days to get them headed in the right direction.

There’s a feeling of getting hit in the gut when I see a new bowyer break a bow by something that was totally preventable with a bit of advice.

[Deerhunter21]

Russell, you are one of the people I referred to above. I'm happy you are still here and still swinging for the bleachers with ever time at bat!

thanks JW! that really means a lot actually! I try to do the best I can with what I got! Ill keep swinging and practicing and maybe someday ill make it past the bleachers! who knows! Arvin made it... what? 789 feet? Maybe someday ill hit it that far!   

[Morgan]

I wish all young folks would learn to make bows. In making bows, you learn so much more than just that. Your patients, and problem solving skills gets tested, and when (not if) you fail, you have to learn and bounce back. When a bow fails, many hours of work goes with it, and that tests a persons resilience, something than is much needed it today’s world of instant gratification. Thank you to all of the experts here for your patience and generosity.

[Hawkdancer]

I may have more years than any other newbie around, got real lucky with my first bow, it's still shooting.  Found this site and also happened onto a local bow maker who helped a lot, made it to MoJam '18 & '19. Looking forward to '20!  Started an Osage "might get a bow outathis" that is in the finish later status, was gifted a primo Osage and a yew that are waiting for me to gain skill to the level they deserve!   My teaching and learning mantra is: The only dumb question is the one you don't ask!
BJ is right, we learn something from every question posted !  May all your bows shoot to the mark and be handed down to your great grandchildren in working order!
Hawkdancer

[George Tsoukalas]

Welcome to all the new bowyers no matter their ages.

Check my site for help.

http://traditionalarchery101.com

Jawge

[HH~]

There are almost no young folks here on PA. Lots of people who use to live on PA are Gone. Off to Spacebook SB pages. Much rather be here HTTP or HTTPs.

I mean look at the participation in this thread and that about says it all. Folks are not gonna pay for something you can get for free elsewhere. Its a Niche. I see guys who lived on here for years all gone to the big Social Media SB pages.

Lots of guests accts. There ways to attract a younger audience with a up to date business model in the cyber realm.

Shawn~

[maitus]

I have been here since 2012, I'm 58 and I feel like I'm a complete newbie .

[Yooper Bowyer]

You had a clear shot at 2020 BOY, what are you talking about!

[Jim Davis]

I recall reading in one of the Bowyer's Bible series about one of the authors (Jim Hamm I think) teaching a student and the bow to be broke. The teacher's response was. "I have a better stave right here."

The point being to not get hung up on a disappointment.

I was really careful making my first attempt. The ash bow broke because I had not noticed bug damage. I was super careful with the next couple of staves because Osage was like frog fur in Maine. I broke one of them. I learned more faster from the failures than from all the scraping.

So if there is a beginner reading this, learn all you can and dive in with a board stave or a white wood stave. Know what you intend to do and jump in. You will learn more by your mistakes than by your success. When a stave breaks and you say, "I see why that happened," you will never forget the  lesson.

[Hilongbow]

I'm twice the age of some and half the age of others, and I learn from everyone. I also read almost every day as a guest (don't leave my account logged in) and am part of a few Facebook groups. I don't see anything wrong with getting info from various groups, but PA is by far my favorite resource for bow making info. Thank you all for your advice, young and old, green and seasoned.

As someone who works in education, I understand how tiring it can be answering the same questions over and over. I'd like to give a special thank you to those of you who have been around a looooong time and continue to provide personal feedback so people like me can learn and keep this awesome tradition alive. There are 180,000 people on Hawaii island. We like to say "Big Island, small community." Despite that, I only know 1 other bowyer and he only makes glass bows. Our 3-4 annual 3D shoots are dominated by compound shooters. I usually place 2nd or 3rd in the trad category because that's last place. It's a lonely hobby here and without this online community I would never have been bitten by the bug and probably wouldn't continue with it.