Bow Students

[Eric Krewson]

I have been fortunate to have the company of the last two guys to pass through my shop, Darin a few months ago and Donnie last week, both exceptional workers.

Donnie came over a week ago, we started with a hickory bow blank and had a mostly finished bow, less stain, finish and possibly snake skins in 12 hrs. Pretty good for a beginner.



His bow is a straight limb bow, 66" NTN, 1 1/2" wide tapering at mid limb to a little over 3/8" nocks. This a gizmo tillered bow with the tips left stiff and really spits an arrow out. It has iron wood burl tip overlays and a wild plum handle section and arrow rest.



More pictures to follow as we do the final finish work.

[Bullitt]

Cool work Donnie and Eic! The bend in that bow is pretty!
Good shootin,
Steve

[Pat B]

Nice work, guys. Its nice to see some older guys taking interest and obviously excelling in out madness. Way to pass it on Eric. 

[mwosborn]

Nice bow and nice times!

[Badger]

  Teaching is a new phase I am just getting into. I decided a few months ago that I would start running some bow classes but figured I would need at least a few students to practice on before I started. The students hopefully will teach me how to teach. I recently met a local guy Ron right here on PA and have been working with him the past few weeks. He completed a maple board bow which came out excellent and we now have 3 more bows in progress. A bendy handle maple long bow, a maple backed ipe and a tri lam boo backed ipe r/d. All bows are in the tillering stage.  Ron is an artist and seems to have a good eye for tillering so he should be a quick study. I am enjoying this new phase in my bow making as well.

[Jim Davis]

Good work Eric and company!

Eric, are you going to come up  to Clarksville for the Classic?

Jim

[ohma2]

Congrats to the guys, they had a good teacher.way to go eric. Hows the smoke pole building going?

[Eric Krewson]

Badger, you are going to find that only one out of a dozen students who express an interest in making a bow will complete one. The ones that fall by the wayside say they"don't have the patience" or the biggie "I quit because I was afraid I would mess up a good piece of wood."

I teach for free, even supply the tools and materials. I bet if I charged the going rate for a bow building class I would get only guys who are really interested in making a bow because they would have something invested in the process.

Ohama, got my lock in and just have to start putting chisel to wood. I have one more BBO to finish before I start on  the flinter.

[George Tsoukalas]

Keep  up the good work of passing it on. I've taught several but none have stuck with it beyond that one bow.

[Badger]

  Eric and Jawge, I have had quite a few guys over the years say they want to learn. I end up making 90% of the bow and they drop out. My last guy seems pretty serious about it. I don't charge either but they do have to bring supplies.

[Bogaman]

I've been holding classes off and on over the past twenty years. Whenever enough people show an interest. Like Eric, I don't charge but ask them to bring some of the basic tools. Some bring wood, some don't. Everyone that's taken the class has finished a bow. Thing is, only a few keep at it. Some guys are naturals to this craft. Better artists than me anyway.
I learned after that first group, that a person needs help. It's hard to keep a close eye on everyone at once.
I've also done a number of one on one deals. I never cease to be amazed at the great bowyers out there, just waiting to get a start.
When I started there wasn't near as much help or info out there. The internet and the spread of get togethers like Mojam, etc. have been a great improvement in helping the people who think they might like bending a stick or two.

[Bogaman]

By the way Donnie, that's a fine looking bow!

[zenart]

  Teaching is a new phase I am just getting into. I decided a few months ago that I would start running some bow classes but figured I would need at least a few students to practice on before I started. The students hopefully will teach me how to teach. I recently met a local guy Ron right here on PA and have been working with him the past few weeks. He completed a maple board bow which came out excellent and we now have 3 more bows in progress. A bendy handle maple long bow, a maple backed ipe and a tri lam boo backed ipe r/d. All bows are in the tillering stage.  Ron is an artist and seems to have a good eye for tillering so he should be a quick study. I am enjoying this new phase in my bow making as well.

Well, for sure I'm getting schooled quicker than quick!  And, I had no idea I was teaching the teacher, haha, but I suppose that's the way it is in life.

I'm new to archery in the first place and somehow I found PA with everyone so willing and actually truly desiring to share their knowledge and skill sets . It was a great find at a time in my life I needed it most and THEN to have the incredible fortune to have a Master Bowyer like Steve mentor me from the git-go.. well, it's been an awesome experience to say the least. And yes, I'm the guy who's 'serious'. I love it all.

I personally believe there's a trad trend for sure. Don't know about Primitive, time will tell, but for awhile now when I go to the range I've had many with the wheelie machines (about 85% out there) find there way over and tell me 'I've been wanting to get into trad'.  In fact, just today I was shooting my very first handmade bow for first time, hooohaaa!, and inside of an hour I had 10 different people want to check it out.

Anyway, this first bow turned out to be a successful sweet shooter, a Maple board selfie that I'll be keeping for the memories if nothing else.  I'll post pics of it when I get the time. Steve has me pretty busy with these several in progress and that's plenty okay with me. I'm getting a really well-rounded education for sure, trying many styles, techniques, all the good stuff. Just like this forum Steve seems to be holding nothing back. I'm VERY grateful, and to top it off, I'm getting a great friend. Thanks Steve!!