2013 Annual Bow Swap

[KellyG]

And this is the shorter list of folks who have not received.

Millhimes
Wood carver 2
soy
Juan
mjwhitby

And it should be almost cut in half by the end of next week.

[kevin_h]

Thats fine with me..
If it glass, that does negate any chance on my end...don't have the tools for that type up here any more..but if it be wood..then I have a go at it...

[KellyG]

Ok Juan has made his choice and I have notified both Kevin and Justin on who he chose.

I know 2 bows are in the mail and one waiting on rawhide to cure, and one is still having issues with frets.

So we have 5 folks waiting on bows one knows with one knowing who is building his bow. The other 4 have a 50% Chance of getting a bow very soon.

Coming to a close slowly but steadily.

[John Scifres]

I think some serious scolding is in order here.  We are 3 months past the due date and Kelly is still having to deal with the laggards.  Kelly, thanks for all the persistence. I wouldn't blame you a bit for canning this next year.

[KellyG]

John,

I wouldn't dream of it. There is more good then bad. One of the bowyers is late due to me. When his guy dropped out. It took me way longer to get him the next person in line.

I am just thankful that so far there is on one AWOL and all the others have been in contact or posting.

For that I thank them.

[Roy from Pa]

Your a good Man, Gillespie..

[red hill]

I agree with Roy!
I do and don't agree with John.      I'm one of the late birds that just couldn't get a bow completed... Life happens... I struggled with the decision to try to continue or just throw in the towel. Thanks to Kelly I didn't give up. But, I do realize that I am part of the problem for the late ending to this swap. For this I am humbly sorry.

Thank you, Kelly and Stiks, for doing everything you've done for this swap.

John, I accept my scolding. But I was tougher on my self over this lack of responsibility.

[canopyboy]

I've been pondering human nature while in the woods waiting for the deer to avoid me again. And I came back to the swap.  I think that we have too long of a window to build the bow.  I don't think anyone needs 5 or 6 months.  But procrastination is a part of each of us, for many of us it is a larger part than for others.  What that big window does give is the impression of tons of time.  So even the best of intentions to dive right in and finish early this year get pushed aside quickly as life happens.  You respond to the crocodiles nearest your boat, and July is a long way off.  Then all of a sudden the deadline has snuck up on you.  You've over-committed yourself and you tell yourself it's unfortunate, but you'll be into the grace period.  And heck, so is everyone else -- this assuages your guilt a little.  Your sense of urgency ratchets up some, but maybe not enough.  You're optimistic that things will go well and you'll finish before the end of the grace period.  But now there is no time for error or contemplation.  Soon you're burning the midnight oil and rushing to finish. The grace period ends and you're only a few days late.  Not the end of the world, but you find yourself reflecting back on those good intentions in January to finish by April 1st.  How'd you manage to do nothing until the end of May rolled around?

I would like to propose that we shorten the build window a little.  Keep a little more pressure on those of us who need it while our motivation is still in overdrive due to the afterglow of waiting for your recipient's name.  My conjecture is that if people start needing to ship by the end of April, you'll actually see more on-time shipments than if the deadline is the middle of the summer.  Just a thought.

[canopyboy]

For the record, I'm speaking as one who missed the original deadline himself and had the loftiest of ambitions back in January....

 

[red hill]

A good thought, canopyboy. I like your philosophical view point. I think you are right on target.

[soy]

I sure would like to get out into the woods To reflect and ponder.......darn work anyway  

[monterey]

Originally posted by canopyboy:
For the record, I'm speaking as one who missed the original deadline himself and had the loftiest of ambitions back in January....

   

I pretty much agree.  The deadline was suddenly right there and with the fresh urgency my bow was done in three weeks.  But, in mydefense, I had a rather different and experimental bow in mind.  After a whole lot of planning and prognosticating (procrastination came later  :D  ) along with some attempts at prototypes I realized that the vision was not ready to come to fruition.  It was time to build something a bit more conventional.

I actually felt a tremendous pressure by this swap.  It was my first time to participate and I had great doubts about my ability to build a bow good enough for my recipient.  Sorta wished I had not entered the swap at all.  Now that it's done (and it was into the grace period and beyond) I'm glad I did it.  I'll probably stick my neck out again for the 2014 swap!  Might even manage to build that original vision this time!

[SportHunter]

This year I added a few clients and the amount of extra work took up any extra time I thought would be there this year. My apologies to my recipient but business comes first.

I am currently on attempt #3 and its looking good, it sure would have been great if #1 or #2 worked out. I really want to put out a good product, not some scrapped together stick just to make a deadline. Last year I was one of the first to be complete, this year it didn't work out that way. I'm still glad to be participating and thankful for your patience.

[soy]

No reason to rush sport hunter I have enjoyed your progress pics ...how's the mummy looking?

[mjwhitby]

My wife called me at work to tell me there was a package sitting at my door! Could it be? I won't know till in the morning. Don't know if I can make it!

[talkingcabbage]

This was my first swap and I'm glad I pushed myself at the beginning. I ended up having issues with bubbles under the glass and had to remake, which also meant spend more money that I really didn't budget for in the beginning. But starting early meant I had time to save up again to rebuild. I was just nervous about getting it done on time. I didn't want to screw up my first time!

[red hill]

It was my 4th bow that finally made it to completion, talkingcabbage. I hadn't planned on using so many materials either. Nor had I expected to talk so long.

[mjwhitby]

Well I talked my wife into bringing me the package that arrived at my house today. I opened it up to find a beautiful creation by Troy D Breeding! It's a three peice take down and is one sweet shooting bow! I'll definatly be carrying this to the deer woods this season. Thank you so much for the nicest bow I've ever owned!

[red hill]

mj, what kind of job do you have that allows you to shoot a bow? LOL! Enjoy you new play pretty!  

[mjwhitby]

Ha ha. I'm a fireman.