Christmas tree bow build along: in progress

[Onebowonder]

had almost the same thing happen to me.  I had my 50"  60# @ 28" Poplar recurve get caught in the fridge door and break when I went to get a soda.  Ticked me off something fierce.

DANG!!!  It must be something in the alignment of the stars!  You probably won't believe this, ...but nearly the same thing happened to me!  I had just about finished my 82" ntn 90# @ 33.5" Seasoned Cottonwood War Bow when my cat knocked it off the kitchen counter and it got caught in the cabinet door while I was pouring myself a Scotch and soda.  It shatterd all up and down one side.  I wanted to kill the danged cat but my wife wouldn't hear of it! 

OneBow

[Squirrelslayer]

Ok ok. Laugh all you want. I probably desere it after deatroying what would have been a good bow. But as a guy on here once said. If you ain't breakin you ain't makin.  Although all I learnt from this is that pine will make a bow if it stays away from doors. SS

[Squirrelslayer]

had almost the same thing happen to me.  I had my 50"  60# @ 28" Poplar recurve get caught in the fridge door and break when I went to get a soda.  Ticked me off something fierce.

DANG!!!  It must be something in the alignment of the stars!  You probably won't believe this, ...but nearly the same thing happened to me!  I had just about finished my 82" ntn 90# @ 33.5" Seasoned Cottonwood War Bow when my cat knocked it off the kitchen counter and it got caught in the cabinet door while I was pouring myself a Scotch and soda.  It shatterd all up and down one side.  I wanted to kill the danged cat but my wife wouldn't hear of it! 
OneBow

Few im not the only one to do this. Tell the cat I said hi. SS

[PEARL DRUMS]

Its not a bow until it shoots an arrow, and you my friend where nowhere near shooting an arrow from your Christmas tree. Let your mape dry. Read this forum and remember what you read, process it. Then when your wood is ready in a few months you might just have a running shot at a bow.

[Roy]

OK, lets all join hands and sing that x-mas carol song together.

OH CHRISTMAS TREE

OH CHRISTMAS TREE

HOW EVER BRIGHT YOUR SHINNING

LMAO

[okie64]

yep im supprised it even made it to the tillering tree and thats what amazed me about it getting to brace hight. but and im sure you can tell by the way im speaking i bring bad news the bow broke mid limb a few mins ago. not throgh tillering it got caught in the door as i was bringing it in the shed. :embarassed: and that's realy anoying as it was going so well. im just thinking if it hadent got caught i could make a bow with a decent tiller. but theese things happen. you may think im crazy but im going to save it. i have a peice of wood that might just match this wood (looking at the grain) and i can do a handle splice and hopefully it will be saved. if not i will have to wait 6 months for that maple to dry wish me luck. SS

Is this guy for real? You seriously want us to believe you broke it in the door? How is that even possible without putting some serious effort into it?

[PatM]

You ever see one of those dogs that thinks he can carry a stick into the house? That's how.

[okie64]

You ever see one of those dogs that thinks he can carry a stick into the house? That's how.

Ok I got a visual now, pretty funny stuff!

[Roy]

Wonder if he got it on video? I got this new idea, I worked my bow up against the door frame cause my tillering tree broke...

[H Rhodes]

Thanks for posting this Squirrel Slayer.  I learn more from this forum everyday!

[Squirrelslayer]

Ok what I said wasn't 100% accurate it got caight in the door which violated the ring but I didn't notice  or think it had done any damage to it. When my dad asked to see it I put it back on the tiller and at 5" not even close to where it was before it blew. So it did blow on thre tree but because of the door much to my amusement and to yours. But I learnt a lesson and thats the important thing here. Sorry I lied about breaking it in the door. SS

[WillS]

I... I don't even.... Sigh.

Catching your bow in a door would not violate a growth ring.  At most it would dent the back a bit, and that wouldn't be enough to break a bow at 5" draw, where youre not even stressing the wood yet.

It seems a bit like you've read a few things about bow making, and picked up some terms you've seen people using and I think you've misunderstood their meaning.  To "violate" a growth ring enough to break a relatively unstressed piece of wood as thick as yours seemed on that video, you'd need to hack away with a drawknife right next to a knot.  You would definitely notice if a door had done that.

Looking at your video, it seems you haven't rounded or smoothed any of the edges from back to belly.  That's a far more likely candidate for the failure (plus the awful wood selection.)

Take a picture of your bow right where it has broken.  If its nowhere near a knot, sharp edge or hinge I'd be amazed.

[sleek]

I damage a bow severly once with an incident against a chair. I was shooting it through a chrono once on a charin, the limb hit the chair back as I was too close to it and dented the heck out of it. Second pull back, before full draw, the back lifted a splinter at the dent. Soon as I heard the tick I let down. I tried a few things to fix it, but it was too late, the bow ( an 80 lb red oark board bow ) was never the same. I cut it up out of disgust.  Could be the same thing squirrely boy is talking about here?

[WillS]

I damage a bow severly once with an incident against a chair. I was shooting it through a chrono once on a charin, the limb hit the chair back as I was too close to it and dented the heck out of it. Second pull back, before full draw, the back lifted a splinter at the dent. Soon as I heard the tick I let down. I tried a few things to fix it, but it was too late, the bow ( an 80 lb red oark board bow ) was never the same. I cut it up out of disgust.  Could be the same thing squirrely boy is talking about here?

Possibly.  But he's saying it blew up at 5".  That's not even stressing the wood yet.  Unless he picked the bow up by one limb and launched it at the door frame with all the rage of a grizzly bear with dust under it's contact lens I can't see how it would do enough damage to blow up an otherwise stable bow at 5".

[PEARL DRUMS]

As a learning tool only. I dont believe any amounts of door dings on that back caused your break. Two things you need to accept:

1. Its a Christmas tree of pine
2. The back of an already useless bow wood was covered in knots and cracks

Do really suppose a ding from a door was the culprit for the break? I dont.

Let your alledged maple dry for a few months and keep reading, and accepting what you read is valid.