How did you get started?

[Morgan]

Here we are in 2017. Most of us are making bows just like our ancestors made thousands of years ago. Thinking about this community we have of folks with one common ancient interest, got me to wondering how folks got introduced to this addiction. It's not a common thing.

When I was about 20 years old, a man named Niles Littrell and I worked together. He brought the first self bow I had ever seen or heard of to work with him. It was a beautiful Osage takedown that he had made with a brass and steel sleeve. The bow had a small through pin knot on the top limb. He traded that bow for a marlin 30-30 to another co-worker. I don't know what that sparked inside of me but I asked him hundreds of questions and he happily answered them all. I remember every aspect of those few conversations we had nearly 2 decades ago. He told me about the TBB, white woods and heartwoods, chasing a ring, seasoning and quick drying etc. He told me about drying staves wrapped in Christmas lights to speed it up a bit, and a cresting machine he made with a microwave turntable motor. I doubt seriously if he would remember my name, but he had a big impact on my life and doesn't know
 I thought about those conversations we had off and on for twelve or thirteen years, telling myself that I couldn't do it every time I got excited about it. Then I cut a black locust that was in the way one day and split it into two staves. One twisted way beyond saving, the other I chased a ring, started tillering, and broke it.  proving that I couldn't do it. It's been an off and on affliction since, and I'm just now starting to make bows that I'm reasonably satisfied with.
 I would love to hear others stories. And as a side note, if anyone here knows Niles, I would love to buy him a cup of coffee and thank him.

[bjrogg]

        Morgan it's interesting your timing on posting this question as it is one of the two most asked questions I get. I'd love to tell you my story but I'm afraid it would be bad form because if you look in the issue of PA magazine that is in the mail being delivered to many of its readers as I type this, you will find my answer to that question. Sure hope everyone enjoys it. It was great to hear yours and I'd love to meet Niles too.
       I always enjoy hearing others answer to this question to.
Bjrogg

[osage outlaw]

I was a compound shooter since I was a kid.  About 10 years ago I got the idea that I needed a longbow just to target shoot with.  I couldn't afford to buy a new one so I put an add on Craigslist looking for a cheap used bow.  A guy replied and said he could make me one from Osage.  I told him I had a lot of Osage trees so we made a trade.  He came and cut a load of wood in exchange for a bow.  He split one of the logs up before he left.  That got me curious about how to turn a tree into a bow.  I found the Ferret's build a long online and followed it word for word.  I ended up with what is possibly the worst Osage bow that has ever been built.  But it survived and flung an arrow a short distance.  I was hooked.  I immediately started a second bow and it turned out pretty good.  After I got the second bow done the guy delivered the bow he had made for me.  It was barely shootable but I didn't care.  That trade lit a fire in me that is still burning strong. 

[Pappy]

I wrote this a few years back for something, can't remember what but it about covers it for me.
     How it began

I thought I would do an article on how I got started in selfbows and it is really hard to say. I know everyone’s story is different but this is mine. I started like a lot of folks with a compound in 1975 and almost from the beginning I shied Away from the technical stuff. I just wanted it plane and simple. I went to feathers right off and never wanted to use a release, I used one pin and a broad head I had to sharpen my self. In about 1980 I felt the urge to shoot a recurve so I got an old Person fiberglass recurve and started trying to learn to shoot. It wasn’t long until I ordered a Big Horn custom re curve and thought I was set. Some friends heard about Cloverdale Traditional nationals and we made the first one of their shoots. I fell in love with the Long Bows I seen there and had to have one. I ordered a Cohana Wind walker and loved it. I always had a desire to make my own even from the start so I began in 1990 to try. No one I knew was doing that so it was trial and error, mostly error. Then in 92 I meet Gary Davis and found out an old friend of mine Mike Conkle that I hadn’t seen in a while had been building bows. Between Mike and Gary I was off and running, Gary showed me a lot on the lay out and what to look for in the wood and Mike would look over my work and show me where I had went wrong, lots of wrongs to start. It wasn’t to long before I had a shooter and to me that was the greatest feeling in the world. It’s a frustrating thing to try and learn on you own but it ant rocket science if you have someone to help you a long ,it helps more than I can say. I have all the   Bowyer bibles 1/2/3/4 and have read them several times, but there is nothing like hands on when it comes to building wood bows. I build several bows a year for hunting but am mostly involved in trying to pass it on to folks that want to learn. It is a great feeling for me to see a beginning bowyer get his/her first bow to brace and then get it shooting. How it began it is hard to say but I tell people that ask that it seems from the start I have been going backwards in time instead of chasing all the high teck stuff. We all have a place in archery but for me it is the simple self bow.
     Mark Baggett [ Pappy ]
   That's my story and I am sticking to it.
 Pappy

[chamookman]

That Darn Davis Guy got a BUNCH of Us started didn't He  ! I got started around 90 I believe and and shortly after that infected Wirwicki  . Bob

[Eric Krewson]

How I started; I shot a recurve until compounds came out (I am an old guy) then went to the dark side for 18 years. In 89 I had a fully decked out overdraw compound limb split as I was drawing on the biggest buck of my life, I had called him in to 7 yards. I got the bow fixed under warranty, immediately sold it, bought a $25 vintage recurve and went back to my roots, I never shot another compound.

We had an indoor archery range in town that the club I ran kept up, soon a bunch of us oddballs were meeting there twice a week to shoot trad bows. I bought a Howatt Hunter to replace my vintage Bear then ordered Bighorn in about 1990 or 91. I became deadly with my recurve.

Sometime in the early 90s I was walking down a road at my hunting club and ran into a guy I didn't know carrying what looked like a tree limb with a string on it and a bunch of arrows, I had my fancy Bighorn recurve. I asked him" you hunt with THAT", he replied "sure". Next I asked "ever kill anything with it ", he replied "I killed a deer with it last week". Now, this peaked my interest.

We introduce ourselves, his name was Joe Bogle, he didn't know me from Adam but invited me to his house to show me how he made bows. The spark was ignited!

A few days later I was on his deck overlooking the lake while he gave me the basics of wood selection, staves, shaping and tillering. I had to give this bow making stuff a try. I had been a serious duck decoy carver so I had all the tools at my disposal.

I bought the available videos and bow building books at the time, the pickings were slim.

I later found I lived in osage country but didn't know how to recognise a tree. I went to a local sawmill, bought a rough, half rotten osage board that had been on the rack for about 20 years and went home to make a bow.

My neighbor was a deer killing machine so I collected his deer legs and stripped the sinew out of them for my future bow. I cut what I thought looked like a bow out of my osage board, sinew backed it because of the grain violations, made it bend somewhat, pulled it to full draw the first time I pulled it back and started shooting. This poorly tillered bow blew up after thirty shots or so in spite of the sinew backing.

I learned what osage looked like, found some on some private land close to my house and got permission to cut a few staves.

As most of us converts are, I still had that recurve mentality so I made a working recurve with a recurve like handle next. It wasn't great but it stayed together, I actually won a few tournaments with it. I think it is still alive today, it ended up with a nephew.

Now I had the disease and started cranking bows out as fast as I could, I went on a tear cutting osage as well.

In 96 I wanted to completely commit to selfbows but was easily drawn back to my Bighorn, it had to go. I sold the Bighorn and 2 extra sets of limbs and became a selfbow guy. I kinda' wish I had kept it now, but it is long gone.

20 years and a zillion bows later I have slowed down a good bit but am still making them. I am tillering a new BBO in the shop today.

 

[Morgan]

I sure enjoyed reading of y'all's experience. I'd like to read about yours too BJ. I need to subscribe to PA.  Really figured that a lot of folks had a father son tradition. I wouldn't be surprised otherwise though as my oldest son (16)has  just a tiny bit more than zero interest. Every time he comes into the shop, I point at the stave pile in the corner and ask him if he's ready to start chopping. He just smiles and shakes his head. He likes to shoot a little though. I think I'll see if I can get my 8 year old son and 7 year old foster son to bite on it. Lol.

[Pat B]

I didn't start hunting until I was 29 years old. My first real deer hunt was with an old Shakespeare recurve I got from a storage shed that was being unloaded. I missed the same buck 3 times (over his back) at 15 yards to 20 yards with mismatched aluminum arrows.     After that I hunted with a 50 cal TC Hawkins and killed 2 deer. Then I bought a Bear Blacktail compound at a flea market and killed a few deer with it. My next was a PSE Nova that I eventually replaced the cams with wheels, removed the sights and arrow rest, add moleskin to the shelf and began shooting instinctively. About this time I started thinking about building a wood bow after reading Jay Massey's books, The Bowyers Craft and The Primitive Archer.
 I built wood bows for a long time before I first found Primitive Archer Magazine and it was quite a bit later before I got a computer but as soon as I did I found this forum. I didn't know anyone that built wood bows except for what I could get from books for quite a while but once on PA I started meeting folks that were like minded and my bow building improved tremendously.  I hunted with a FG recurve I bought in Savannah back in 1988 then a Treadway Longbow I bought in 1999 and killed my first trad with it. Since a little after 2000 I have bowhunted exclusively with wood bows I made myself and cane and hardwood shoot arrows or doweled arrows with stone of trade points and a few commercial points but unfortunately I never killed a deer with my own stuff. Over the past 10 years my hunting has slowed to a trickle. Don't know why but I just don't have the drive anymore. I still hunt occasionally but not like in the past.

[lebhuntfish]

Very good stories guys! I ran accross this late at night,  but ill try to post mine tomorrow.

Patrick

[Del the cat]

I've never bought a bow!
Ah, just remembered I bought an Accles and Pollock 1950's steel take down for £20 off E-bay a few months ago just to have a look at it
Started as kid (maybe age 10?) making little skinny stick bows and playing Robin Hood, then I made a crossbow from an old car leaf spring with a lot of help from my brother, then some crossbow pistols with Aluminium Alloy prods. Sold a nice one that had a detachable shoulder stock to a game keeper for shooting vermin.
All that time I was looking for decent Yew. Made my first decent ELB in my 20's, lots of help from books. Had a long break while the kids grew up, but was still tinkering with the odd bow.
When I really got back into it about 10 years ago, the internet was here and then eventually I found you guys !
I've never shot an Olympic Recurve or a Compound... at shoots I've let people try my bows, but they never offer to let me shoot theirs! I think that sums up the difference between us trad guys and the rest of 'em... they think their bow is the precious one, whereas the hand made bow is really the one that's got the karma in it.
Del

[bjrogg]

Love reading these stories. So glad we all eventually found this PA site. Always makes me wonder how many non computer bowyers are out there.
Bjrogg

[Eric Krewson]

I think there are more than we realize. I have local folk stop by the house, cable guys and such who I show my bows to, often they ask me if I know Billy Bob and his dad who have made bows for years. The selfbow clan here is pretty tight knit, I thought I knew all of them but there are apparently a few that don't get on the net or shoot tournaments that I have never heard of. 

[darinputman]

 After years of hunting public land with a wheely bow I gave a wheely gun a try and well never liked lugging that thing around.  I decided to try and make my own bought the TBB4 from books a million and went to work  needless to say I managed to make something that resembled a bow just not very much. About that time my wife talked me into getting cellphones so we could have internet access instead of relying on dial up.  I'm glad I gave in it was through reading these forums that I received a pm from Eric Krewson around Feb. of 2013  asking if I was interested in making a selfbow, was I ever. He had a lot going on at the time and I had 4 kids so it took a while but we finally got one made and he's still there anytime I need advice. I tell everyone that I set out to make a bow wound up making a friend. I've made a few bows since then broke a few and passed a few on to my friends as well. One things for sure I really have enjoyed the journey so far and hopefully my kids or there friends will one day too. Thanks again Eric Krewson!

[Ryan Jacob]

I started when I was 10. At first I made pvc bows, all of which were dogs and heavy in the hand. Once I reached twelve, I started shooting 40 to 50 pound bows out of pvc. These, I noticed, wre getting less slow. On my 3rd year of making bows, I found this forum and saw Manny’s guava bows. This inspired me to make my own guava bows. I started out with a guava sapling bow. I was aiming for 15 pounds of draw weight. Next came 2, 30 pound bhutanese stlye bows. Then my first good bow, a snakey guava molly, 40 pounds at 26 inches. Now, I’m working on a rawhide backed paddle bow at my 4th year of making bows...

[JEB]

Been around this game a long time.  Dad opened an archery shop back in the late 50's and I worked in the store with my brother as teenagers.  We sold bows, arrows and  other archery gear. We also had 8 shooting lanes in the store.  Dad met and became friends with Fred Bear and started to handle Bear bows and other Bear  gear. He later shot for Bear and was on Bears advisory staff for three years.  Dad changed the name of the store to Bear Archery Shop of Muskegon.

I went into the service in 67, brother got married and dad closed the store up in 69. My wife and I hunted and  shot in archery leagues for many years and then one day I retired and she went part time at an RN.  We traveled to the S.W. for the winter and I got the arrowhead hunting bug. Over the years of hunting and finding artifacts I decided I that I wanted to learn how to make stone hunting points. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Mike Cook who struggles to give me lessons,lol.

Then a buddy contacted me a few years ago about going to a thursday night bow making class. I thought why not so off I went.  Turned out to be a great bunch of guys who was eager to teach anyone that wanted to learn how to make a bow. They even provided the first stave.  That was about 5 years ago and 5 bows later. I still go to thursday nights but I mostly flint knap while others moved on from bow making to putting together flint locks.