First (failed) bow

My first bow, which I began sometime in early February 2009, was built step-for-step after the plans detailed by Sam Harper here.  I'll tell you right up front that it ended about 2 weeks later in failure, as the bow developed a crack on the middle edge of one limb that went up through the back. There were other problems that would have probably doomed this bow for other reasons had not this crack appeared. Actually, one of the problems with this first bow began before I even got the Red Oak board home from Home Depot. It was a lousy piece of wood. Although I pored through the stack (while the guy with the orange vest stood by wondering why I couldn't decide on a simple piece of wood) there just weren't any sample there that really stood out as suitable. Not that I am an expert, of course. However, the one I picked just didn't have very straight grain.  For that matter, there weren't any there that weren't warped in some way or another.

Below is my tillering rig. I opted for the pulley system mostly for the convenience. Some say that tillering on a stick which you hold in front of you with notches on which you hook the string can be dangerous. I don't really buy that especially as I get better at making these things.

The other failings of this bow were a severe twist along both limbs that probably amounted to 10 degrees. There was no solution for this problem. Also, one limb had a nasty hinge that I introduced due to careless tillering. That too was fatal, since to get rid of it would have resulted in a bow way too weak to be of any good.

Lessons learned from this build were to plan more carefully and to proceed more methodically.

My next bow build will be posted shortly.