The Men Behind The Bow

[SLIMBOB]

Welcome Dor.  I always enjoy seeing the new guys get started down this long windy road.  I'm Rob if your my wife, mother or banker, otherwise I'm Slimbob to my friends.  I tricked a bowmakwer friend of mine into teaching me the craft about 18-19 years ago.  Never intended to really shoot them much, as wheelie bows were my thing.  The real thing!  I'm pretty sure I'm gonna finish up the 4 or 5 I have working now, and then work thru all the wood in my shop, maybe 10-15 staves and then give it up as I intended.  I do have some Bodark that I will cut in the next few weeks and a good bit of Persimmon that I was just given that will need to dry, so I will work thru all of that as well before I go back to my, wheelie bow passion.  So there you go.  Pretty plain vanilla story of a guy who built one, and then a few more, and then a few more on top of that, but that's it for me, in another couple of years I'm done with it, as planned.
I do want to build a few board bows first, just to say that I can, maybe a war bow for the same reason.  And then obviously the Wilcox Douflex before I'm done.  But then I'm done, for sure.
There's talk of some type of challenge to build a 60" 100# bow, so maybe I will attempt that at some point but that's as far as I'm willing to stray.  Then I'm done with it.

Edit...Almost forgot, never made an HHB bow, so I will add that in.  Black Locust ditto.
Gotta make a badly bent buckthorn bow as well.  A Marc St. Louis R/D, a Blackhawk "Molly Curve" and a Pearl Drums static recurve.  That about does it for me.

[Crogacht]

I actually almost believed you for a second there 

Very well put 

[Bogaman]

I quit my wheelie bows after I'd hiked a mile and a half back to my favorite secluded spot, only to realize I'd left my release laying on the dash of my pickup truck;^(

[mullet]

Welcome again, Dor. I'm Eddie Parker, a fifth generation Floridian and made my first bow from a hickory sapling in the mid eighties. I was hooked from there. I've been shooting bows since I could pull one of those little hickory bows with the rubber cups and it didn't take long for me to pull the rubber off and terrorize anything I could shoot at. I like all bows as long as it doesn't have wheels. I have a small fondness for Bear Recurve bows also.

My bow making skills really jumped in the learning curve when I found this site, there is just so much accumilated knowledge here. I've also met some really good friends on this site and put a lot of miles on my Jeep traveling and hunting with these great people. I don't think you can go wrong hanging out here, and those little debates?, they come around every so often, kinda like brothers arguing sometimes and sometimes Mom's got to throw a pot of cold water on the mess.

I travel a lot with work and will be back in Israel in the future. Maybe we can get together, it seems like every place in Israel is an hour away by car.

Shalom

[IndianGuy]

Eric Smith here aka indianguy.
Been building American Indian bows since 1984. I also work for the bureau of Indian education and teach Native American kids from all over the United States bow and arrow making, archery history,terminology and shooting techniques. Currently I have worked with kids from the Creek, Comanche,Kiowa,Havasupi, Sioux, Apache, Tohono-Odom,Pueblo,Navajo,Omaha, and Ho-chunk Nations. I have also taught a few non natives as well.
Working with kids is very challenging but rewarding.
E

[Marc St Louis]

Welcome Dor, Marc St Louis here.  Been making my own bows and arrows since 1971.  Not your fault your thread got highjacked, my fault it went as far as it did though.

Chi Meegwetch 

[Badger]

Big Badger here. I tried a few bows as a kid going into puberty without much luck, I was 46 when I got back into it but I was using fiberglass cloth on the back to keep them together. About 1990 or maybe 89 I found Jawges sight and followed the instructions and was able to make a bow with no FG. I was off and running and 14 years later I am no less passionate about building than I was when I started. I am now 65 and retired. Funny thin was when I first started I had no clue how to build and or knew of anyone to ask. All my bows were 62" working recurves with big sweeping curves almost exactly like the Wilcox duoflex, now I seldom do recurves but still enjoy them when I do.

[Renacs]

Hello Dor, Joe here. I rarely post here, but lurk almost daily. I had my first attempt at a selfbow about a decade ago and failed. About 5 yrs ago i got the B.B. And found these websites. Since then ive given all my compounds away and havent turned back. Im pushing my 50th bow now(maybe 25 are good shooters) and i   dont see a end to it. Its a great passion that has given me a whole new vision in the woods.   oh yea im from ohio.

[Patches]

Hi Dor!  Welcome to PA and the addiction!  I am Neal (Patches) from Missouri.  I have been shooting bows as long as I can remember (I am 42 now).  I enjoy shooting bows as much as making them.  Honestly, I have not made alot of bows.  The ones I have made I use alot though.  I end up making more arrows that anything (if you shoot alot arrows, you break alot of arrows).  I have also made several spears (or darts) for using with atlatls.  I am a wildlife biologist, a grandpa, and enjoy projectiles of all types!

Neal

[Carson (CMB)]

Welcome DOR!  My name is Carson Brown and I am an addict  .  Born and raised in Jefferson, Oregon. 32 years old now. Libra.  I grew up with traditional archery but didn't become hopelessly obsessed with archery until I made my first self-bow about 3 years ago.  The joy of making wood bows and the great kinship among archers and bowyers inspired me to attempt making a living at it.  I started Echo Archery two years ago and haven't looked back.

[Lemos]

Hello Dor, Art Lemos here (38). Welcome to the addiction. I'm from Salem Oregon, father of two teens one boy, one girl and married. I started on this road several years ago after buying a garbage wheelie contraption that I just could not get to shoot worth a dang. Funny thing is the guy who owned the archery range specializing in them is the one who showed me his traditional bow and got me hooked, been regressing every since. I dabble in leather making ,flintknapping and most primitive crafts(dabble being the key word). You know your truly addicted when having most of the good bow wood isn't enough, I'm currently growing Osage ,guava and an olive tree in the back yard along with arrow bamboo and black bamboo.

[JW_Halverson]

Hi Dor, I am Willem from South Africa. Pharmacist and need hobbies to keep me sane. So I am building cane fly rods knives and recently started building bows. In six months build about twelve laminated bows and then decided that all wood trad bows is more interesting. Ive build oak, mulberry and of course got me some osage from the states and finished one osage recently. The forum is my source of information. Thank you to all. 51 years old, married, three daughters and lots of places to hunt over here. Regards

Willem, I am begging you to post a build-along thread on one of your cane fly rods!  I think a lot of people in here would love to see the artistry and craftsmanship that goes into making a fly rod. 

I'm John and I started making bows about 13 years ago as a form of divorce therapy.  I still build a few bows, but not like I used to.  And I don't like shooting them.  Never have, probably never really will.

[Stickhead]

Shalom, Dor!

I'm Tom Allen, age 53, live in Virginia, and I've been hooked on bowmaking for about 12 years.  I don't make a lot of them, but once I start one, I get a bit obsessed over it until it's done.  I just use hand tools, and mostly use my local Osage and Eastern Red Cedar.  I still break my share, and have a long way to go before I master this craft (if that's possible), but I'm getting better, little by little.  My philosophy is, if you learn something by making a bow that fails, it wasn't a failure.

I don't really have any bowyer mentors in my area, so this forum has been a fantastic resource for me, providing great lessons from seasoned experts like Mark St. Louis, Badger, George, and countless others.  I lurk a lot and don't post very often, since need a lot more wisdom than I have to offer.

I've had the pleasure of visiting Israel several times on business in my former engineering career, and loved trip.  Hopefully, I'll get a chance to visit again.

[tallpine]

My name is Dan from the piney woods of east Texas. I live to bow hunt, I'm also a bladesmith.  I   have had a bow in my hands off and on since I was 10 years old, I'm fixing to be 67. First and foremost, I'm an Archer. I love any and all kinds of bows whether made with glass, wheels or wood and I own many, but my passion is building and shooting wooden bows  Been making and breaking bows for about 12 years but after retiring 3 years ago really got serious and with the valuable information gleaned from the good guys here on P.A., I've managed to built a few pretty decent  bows. The dust up on the Showdown thread was pretty mild compared to some of the other forums I frequent. P.A is a great learning tool. I trust all the information I get here because I know that there are plenty of knowledgeable bowers here that will call you out if don't know what your talking about. I love this place, its defiantly flattened the learning curve for me.

[Japbow]

      Hey Dor!
     
      My name is Brian. I'm originally from DELAWARE in the States, but I've been living
      in Japan for the last 12 years. I'm 41 and I've got a 10yr old and 2yr old girls and
      another daughter due in July. I've just opened up an English school named ARCHER
      ENGLISH...of course! Right now all my time is dedicated to recruiting new students,
      so bow-building has been set aside for a little while...BUT, I've been building bows
      for the last three years or so. Luckily, here in Japan I'm lucky enough to have a
      wide array of suitable bow woods available, such as Yew, Mulberry, BL, Persimmon,
      Cherry, etc. I may be one of the only people making primitive bows here, and I hope
      to some day get more locals interested in bow-making. I also want to improve my
      skills and master as many different bow woods as I can.

      As it is said here in Japan...Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu!

      Japbow.