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Author Topic: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?  (Read 32852 times)

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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #15 on: March 13, 2012, 03:51:06 pm »
Quit picking on me Pat!

I suppose since I have a set of sockets and a rachet I must be a mechanic then? SWEET!
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Offline Pat B

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #16 on: March 13, 2012, 03:58:12 pm »
Only if you can properly use them, Pearlie!  ;)
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Offline Survivecrunch

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #17 on: March 13, 2012, 04:01:01 pm »
I would like to believe that once you make a functioning bow like jtbluefeather's father said, then you are technically a bowyer, then there is the the experience,skill, and quality of bows you produce that show the degree of a bowyer you are. In my opinion one never stops learning in life and if you take these lessons and apply them wisely you will never stop growing in you mastery in the art of bowyery.
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Offline Bevan R.

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2012, 06:48:47 pm »
I will call myself a bowyer, when someone I consider a bowyer calls me that. Until that time, I am a bow maker.
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Offline bubby

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #19 on: March 13, 2012, 07:35:17 pm »
it's alot like Martial Arts, people think that when your a black belt you know it all, but it's really just a belt and the learning continues as long as you let it, Bub
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Offline Jude

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #20 on: March 13, 2012, 07:44:47 pm »
I have to agree with Pat, it's a confidence thing.  Prior to 2009, I posted here as "Brokestick" because that described my first half dozen attempts.  When the forums were migrated and I lost my profile, I chose a different name since I wasn't breaking them anymore, but I still wouldn't call myself a bowyer.  I began thinking of myself as a bowyer when I no longer had to consult the books and look for layouts and dimensions to design a bow.  That's when I knew that the basic principles were ingrained in my memory and I had the confidence to come up with my own designs. 
The apprentice-journeyman-master progression was not available to most of us in the modern world of bowyery.  This forum has grown tremendously since I first came upon it nine years ago and there are a lot more opportunities for that to occur today.  I learned everything from the magazine, the TBBs and this forum and never had the opportunity to study directly under someone with far greater experience.  It's also my belief, that in the medeival bowyer's guild, you would have spent your life becoming the master of the one particular style of bow, made from the particular wood, that was endemic to your particular time and place.  You would have learned THE WAY to make A BOW because there was only one right way to make a bow.  Those were still the prevailing thoughts when Paul Comstock published "The Bent Stick".
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Offline seabass

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #21 on: March 13, 2012, 09:48:44 pm »
i guess i am a bowyer,just not a good one yet.
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Offline Ifrit617

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #22 on: March 13, 2012, 09:57:22 pm »
Quote from: bubby on March 13, 2012, 07:35:17 pm
it's alot like Martial Arts, people think that when your a black belt you know it all, but it's really just a belt and the learning continues as long as you let it, Bub


As a black belt I can certainly agree with this.... Once you get that rank you are just starting to get past the beginner stage on your journey... Unfortunately to many see it as an end point and not a beginning...


Jon
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Offline toomanyknots

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #23 on: March 13, 2012, 10:36:53 pm »
"It's also my belief, that in the medeival bowyer's guild, you would have spent your life becoming the master of the one particular style of bow, made from the particular wood, that was endemic to your particular time and place."

I really think someone could go from virgin to so-called master bowyer when it comes to longbows/warbows in maybe 2 or 3 days. Maybe 4 or 5 bows. It just isn't that complicated...  (...of course, this is just my opinion guys.) Laminates get a bit more tricky I guess. The hardest thing is learning to be satisfied with your own abilities and creations. (This is how I have come to think anyhow, but I don't wanna talk to big to back up nothin, I have only been bending wood for about 4 years where half the people on here have been bowyer-ing for 10 times that, LOL. Ever other day I have to ask a newbie question so keep that in mind yall.) Tillering should really only take like 4 or 5 bows to get down. Heat/steam correcting ain't no science. You wanna talk about about a master, try building a guitar, with the inlay rosette made from maybe 50 - 100 layers of wood, tuning the top to the back piece, measuring the top to the exact thickness to create the desired resonance. Those guys are amazing. I could never do that. I can barely make a stick shoot another stick.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2012, 10:42:38 pm by toomanyknots »
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 the upper part is pressed down,
 the lower part is raised up,
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Offline Hrothgar

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #24 on: March 13, 2012, 10:47:59 pm »
The minute my wife walks out the door...   :)
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Offline toomanyknots

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #25 on: March 13, 2012, 10:48:42 pm »
Quote from: Hrothgar on March 13, 2012, 10:47:59 pm
The minute my wife walks out the door...   :)

LOL!!! Best answer so far.
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"The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow-
 the upper part is pressed down,
 the lower part is raised up,
 the part that has too much is reduced,
 the part that has too little is increased."

- Tao Te Ching, 77, A new translation by Victor H. Mair

Offline JackCrafty

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #26 on: March 13, 2012, 10:50:17 pm »
When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?  When you know someone is listening and don't mind getting the immediate response, "Can you make me one then?  ;D"

I call myself a bowyer only when I know no one is listening. >:D

Edit:  Hmmm... when my wife is around I have to call myself a bowyer so that I can sound like I'm not wasting my time.  heheh
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Offline vabowyer

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #27 on: March 13, 2012, 10:50:41 pm »
I think it is when it gets into you blood.  For me shortly after the first bow acutally worked.  Since then I can see a piece of wood without thinking of what I can make of it.

Jamie
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #28 on: March 13, 2012, 11:05:04 pm »
I've had people describe me as an artist when referring to my bows.  I ALWAYS correct them.  I can teach pert' near any able bodied chimpanzee to make decent shooting bows.  But there isn't an artist alive (or dead for that matter) that can teach me to paint a picture that would move someone on a deep emotional level. 

I'm an artisan, not an artist. 
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Offline Jude

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Re: When do you start calling yourself a bowyer?
« Reply #29 on: March 14, 2012, 01:04:46 am »
Quote from: JW_Halverson on March 13, 2012, 11:05:04 pm
I've had people describe me as an artist when referring to my bows.  I ALWAYS correct them.  I can teach pert' near any able bodied chimpanzee to make decent shooting bows.  But there isn't an artist alive (or dead for that matter) that can teach me to paint a picture that would move someone on a deep emotional level. 

I'm an artisan, not an artist.

That's a good distinction to make JW.  There are so few artisans left that people don't know the difference anymore.

Julian
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"Not all those that wander are lost."--Tolkien
"If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer."--Benoit
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