Gifted Bow - Gone Bad

[Burnsie]

Late 2024/early 2025 we were having a new building constructed at work and I got to know the foreman/project manager (Danny) of the General Contractor doing the work. We got to chatting and soon discovered we were both avid deer hunters. He uses a compound, but was intrigued when I told him I used traditional gear, and was even more curious when I told him I was really into making Osage self bows. One day he asked me: "how much would you charge to build me a self bow?". Well, if you've seen any of my many post on the "Bowyers Bench", you know I am still a green rookie at the self bow game, asking all kinds of questions and making all kinds of mistakes along the way.
I told Danny I would just build him a bow, my skill level was not to a point where I would ever feel I could charge someone. He had seen a couple of my finished bows and said he would be happy to have one of them. The building was eventually completed, Danny moved on to other construction sites, and we were not in contact any more. I doubt Danny would have ever got back in touch with me asking about a bow, the original conversation was a brief one out at the job site - no real hard commitments were made.  But, it kept bothering me, I told him I would build him a bow. So, I went to work and finished up a bow I felt was of good quality and I would be proud to give him.
So, I called him out of the blue the other day and asked if he was working on any jobs in the area, I had a bow I wanted to drop off to him.  He was ecstatic, he couldn't believe I remembered, and actually built him a bow. He said he'd save me the trouble and would stop by my office. When he got to the office he was almost giddy, he had been reading up on self bows and said he was going to make it a goal to get a deer with the bow I made him. I handed him the bow - he looked it over, examined the tips and the stitched leather handle, the True-oil finish...etc. "man this is awesome, it looks amazing - Thank You"  Then I noticed him kind of fumbling around holding the bow. He asked - "How do you draw and keep the arrow from falling off?". As he is figuring out how he should draw it, my heart sunk - I said "Are you left handed" - Yep. When we had our conversation way back when, it never crossed my mind to verify what hand he shot with. I apologized and said I would build him another bow, I shouldn't have just assumed he was right handed. He tried to convince me he could make this bow work and shoot it off the other side - he was just trying to be nice. I said no - I will make you one that is left handed. If I hadn't cut a shelf in the bow for right hand, I suppose he could have shot off his knuckle either side, but that was not how I had built it. So, now I have a good excuse to be in the shop doing what I enjoy doing anyway.
Moral of the story - Don't ASSUME, we all know what that can do. I will find a right handed friend to give it to.

[Pat B]

I think lots of us have made that mistake. Good for you to follow up and make Danny a new, left-handed bow.
 I very rarely cut in a shelf but narrow the neck at the arrow pass on both sides. I use a Floppy Rest invented by Mickey Lotz(former member). It's like having a shelf and helps protect your bow hand but still feels like shooting of your hand. If you are not familiar with the Floppy Rest here is a drawing that Mickey sent to me.

[Burnsie]

Thanks Pat
I remember Mickey from back then - he was a wealth of knowledge.
I may need to give the floppy rest a try, it certainly simplifies things.

[Pat B]

 I've used it on most of my bows since Mickey sent it to me.The simplicity of it is what I like the most...simple but effective!

[Burnsie]

Pat - on Mickey's drawing I see the starting piece of leather is 2" long, but I'm not able to cypher what the width measurement is supposed to be at the top. What is that number?
Thanks

[Pat B]

The width I have on my most recent bow is 5/8" wide.That works well for me.