Document SE-SAFETY · v1.1 · June 2026
Safety & Legal Notes
The Forge is a workshop, not a calculator. I built it because the archery industry shipped point-tools that didn't talk to each other and a lot of bad math wrapped in marketing. The math here is reliable and I show my work on the Methods page. Every release, every reversal, every bug I've fixed in our own engine is on the version history.
That said: archery setup involves stored energy, sharp edges, and real risk. Software can show you what the math says. Software cannot tell you if your bow press is rated for your limbs, if your serving is creeping, or if you're handling a broadhead the wrong way. Use The Forge with hands-on judgment. Verify anything unfamiliar with a qualified bow technician. The work is yours; the math is mine; the risk is real.
1 ·Master disclaimer
The Forge is a workshop, not a calculator. The math is reliable and I show my work on the Methods page — but archery setup involves stored energy, sharp edges, and real risk.
Use The Forge with hands-on judgment. Verify any unfamiliar step with a qualified bow technician or pro shop. Improper setup, tuning, or cam work can damage equipment or cause injury. Sparrow Expeditions provides The Forge as guidance based on manufacturer specifications and established archery practice; we assume no liability for outcomes resulting from use of this tool.
2 ·When to take it to a pro shop
Even archers comfortable with their own setup should pause for any of these:
- Visible limb cracks, twists, separations, or surface damage
- String or cable fraying, separation, stretching beyond spec, or visible servings breaking down
- Cam timing or cam lean issues you can't isolate to one cause
- Any work that requires a bow press if you don't own one and trust it
- First setup on a new bow if you didn't build it yourself or watch the pro do it
- When a tune isn't responding the way the math says it should, after you've ruled out arrows
- Short-arrow setups — any build where the arrow cut length is less than 1″ longer than your AMO draw, especially with fixed-blade broadheads. Rest and broadhead clearance can both fail at full draw; a pro tech verifying clearance at half-draw before you shoot live is worth the visit.
- Anything that feels off — trust your instinct
Sparrow Expeditions doesn't operate a pro shop. We build the tools and document the methods. For hands-on work, find a qualified bow technician — most regional pro shops have one, and they're worth what they charge.
3 ·Safety notes by tuning operation
Paper tuning
Safety note · paper tuning. Use real broadheads only on a dedicated broadhead target — they can cut through standard target faces and ricochet. Wear eye protection. Stand square to the target with a clear backstop. If your arrow group hits unexpected positions, stop and verify spine + rest position before continuing.
Extended bareshaft tuning
Safety note · extended bareshaft. Bareshafts at 50–70 yd require a private range with a confident, controlled shooter. Bareshafts can fly unpredictably under wind or operator error. Never shoot bareshafts on a public range or where a back-stop isn't guaranteed at the full distance. Stop if you can't confirm impact every shot.
Broadhead tuning
Safety note · broadhead tuning. Broadheads are dramatically sharper than field points. Handle by the ferrule, not the blades. Use a broadhead-rated target. Wear eye protection. If you're new to broadheads, set up at a closer distance first to confirm consistent flight before stepping back to your hunting distances.
Cam timing
Safety note · cam timing. Only adjust cam timing if you are comfortable with a bow press and understand the risks. Modern compounds store substantial energy at draw — a slipped cable, twisted cam, or improperly pressed limb can damage the bow and seriously injure the operator. If you don't own a verified bow press, take this work to a qualified pro shop. When in doubt, don't.
Short-arrow setups
Safety note · short-arrow clearance. When your arrow cut length is more than 1″ shorter than your AMO draw, two failure modes get real: (1) the back of the arrow isn't on the rest at full draw and can pop off mid-draw, and (2) fixed-blade broadheads sit close to the riser shelf, sight housing, or cable guard and can collide with bow geometry at release. Cut-on-contact mechanicals on a drop-away rest with a short-action bow can tune cleanly past the floor, but verify clearance with a pro shop at half-draw before shooting live. Never shoot fixed-blade broadheads on a setup more than 1″ shorter than your AMO draw without bench-testing clearance first.
Sight installation & peep tying-in
Sight + peep work is mechanically lower-risk than cam timing but quality matters. Peeps tied off-center degrade every downstream tune. Tighten sight bolts to the manufacturer's spec — over-torquing can crack housings. Recheck after the first 100 arrows; new string serving settles and shifts.
4 ·Eye protection & range best practices
Wear eye protection any time something can come back at you — paper tuning, broadhead tuning, anything involving short distances. A blown nock at 6 ft happens once in a thousand shots and that's still too often. Safety glasses are cheap; eye injuries aren't.
Range basics that bear repeating: a backstop you trust at the full distance, a clear lane, no one downrange, nock check before every shot, never dry-fire a compound, never adjust limbs/cables/strings under tension without a press. If your bow makes a noise you don't recognize, stop shooting and inspect.
5 ·Reporting concerns
If you find a bug in The Forge's math, a guidance step that could mislead an archer, a missing safety note, or anything that could compromise someone's safety — write to sal@sparrowexpeditions.com. Include the section, the scenario, and any reproduction steps. I read every email and the fix goes in the next release (documented on the version history).
6 ·Math transparency
Every formula, source, and approximation in The Forge is documented at /pages/methods. Every bug we've found in our own engine — including the one density-altitude unit-conversion fix that took two doublings out of the trajectory at altitude — is listed on the version history. If you want to verify the math yourself, the citations are real and you can chase them.
7 ·About Sparrow Expeditions
Sparrow Expeditions is a small team that builds tools for serious archers and the bow technicians who support them. We don't operate a pro shop; we don't sell bows or arrows. We build, document, and maintain The Forge — the workshop you're using now. If you have a partnership, a press question, or anything that doesn't fit a category above, write to sal@sparrowexpeditions.com.
This page is versioned and will be updated as the engine refines and as safety guidance is added.
— Sal Misseri, Sparrow Expeditions · Chicago · June 2026