Quote:I wonder how often this occurred historically?
It happened often, I think. Most of the bows from the Mary Rose that have been uncovered and known to have been finished and used all show string follow, and there are plenty of bow fragments out there. But it's difficult to know the number, because I think that broken bows would probably be used for firework or knife handles, that kind of thing. It would help root out crap bowyers though, and bowyers took on apprentices - apprentices had to learn by doing, and would probably mess up occasionally, or frequently, and no one wants to waste good wood. Sub-standard bows were probably sold to plebs with little money in medieval and pre-medieval societies. And based on what bowyers say, breaks happen to the best of us, so it's safe to assume it happened in the past too.