Broke this one tonight after it was finished and had been pulled a good 200 times on the tiller tree. Serviceberry D bow, 54" NTN sinew string, bear grease finish 47#@ 24"
Its a simple tension failure, I overstressed the wood and this is the result. Oh well its just a stick eh and I learned from it so it wasn't a failure but it was a lesson learned.

Man, Dana, that looks like it was gonna be a good'un, too.
Stan

Bummer, I feel your pain. Is serviceberry the same as hackberry?

That sure hurts, sure was looking like it may have been a real good one.  Sorry!   What okie said, is that the same as hackberry?  Kind of looks the same.

Lost a kids bow tonight myself, know how you feel. Though mine wasn't finished so I saved a lot of time breaking it earlier in the process.

Been there myself a few times:)

Sorry Dana. I gaurentee it won't be your last break!  d;^)  Fun ain't it?

Sorry to see that. AT least you learned from it. Have learned more from broken ones so far. But it still isn't fun breaking them Godd luck on your next one.

It was just a stick, I've been messin with this stave for over a year, it was crooked and twisted, kept puttin heat to it and trying to get things lined, would get disgusted and toos it in the corner and forget about it, but I kept coming back to it. Broke about 4" off one end at a knot so cut the other end off to match. Went from a ridged handle to a D bow. A simple backing of rawhide and it would be alive today. Oh well theres more wood in my corner of shame awaiting me LOL

No serviceberry and hackberry are different. Serviceberry is a small tree/bush, its also known as shad bush and Saskatoon

Well now that is not what we like to see, but hey if you got plenty of wood to work with then it aint to bad.
Happy Building,
Kelly

It's been going around Dana !

There's no better lesson in humility than a piece of wood that refuses to cooperate. Sounds like that one has been fighting you ever step of the way. My very first one made it all the way to the end and actually shot very good for nearly a month. Then it developed a splinter right at the edge of a knot that I sliced through with the band saw in all my fledgling bowyer's wisdom. I wrapped it good with flax comb and sealed with TBII then retired it as a constant reminder to pay close attention to those knots.

One of the smart old guys here, don't remember which one explained to me how the wood grain flows around a knot just like water flows around a rock in the middle of a stream. You have to leave it in the limb and work around it, or take it out completely......there is no in between.
Good advice and excellent explanation that I won't soon forget.

Sorry for your loss. The best way to get over it is learn from it and immediately start a new one. Get back up on that horse cowboy!  

Already have another one ready to finish:)

"Good time Charlie's got the blues. "
If you ain't breakin' you aint makin!
Jawge

So you too are living the dream.  Had a bow started not too long ago, started tillering it and yep it broke.  Could have cried, but got another one started.  Life goes on