Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Terry Green on January 31, 2013, 02:22:00 PM
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Nothing fancy at all....looks like walnut and black glass belly n back.
This is all it says...
Jim Taylor
60-65
2811
USA
Anyone know anything about this bow or bowyer???
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/jimtaylorbow2.jpg)
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Jim made lots of hickory backed black walnut kids bows over the years. Lots of folks carried them in their shops. I've never seen an adult bow made by him but that doesn't mean anything.
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Pat...this is a man's bow...that's for sure...and 64inches I'd guess....where is he located?
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Unfortunately Jim Taylor passed away last year. He was a Bowyer from Alabama, by Double Springs. Yes he made lots of youth bows. Very talented.
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I posted this on another site:
Bow maker Jimmy Taylor has died. A pretty legendary guy in a bunch of ways, both good and bad.
He has probably made more bows than all of us other bow makers combined, his business practices were in a word, atrocious. His generosity was legendary as he would give you the shirt of his back if he thought you needed it. He had a problem separating fact from fiction and told some pretty tall tales, as a friend I grew to accept this facet of his personality. You couldn't keep from liking him in spite of his flaws, unless you were on the receiving end of his shoddy business practices.
If you own one of Dan Quillan's bows from his later years Jimmy probably made it. He supplied a bunch of lower end glass lam bows for Martin, Nirk and others. He made thousands of hickory backed cherry, oak and hickory bows as well.
When I first met him he was selling wood bows for $20 each at the local flea market. I later watched him make one of these bows in his shop in less than 15 minutes, pretty impressive.
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Thanks guys....a friend of mine bought it and he and I both wanted to know more about it. It is about the plainest bow I've ever seen, and that is ALL the writing on it.
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Only so much you can do in 20 minutes, I really like that story.
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Eric is spot on. A lot of people didn't like Jimmy (Randy to his family), for the reason Eric stated. Simply put, he'd lie when the truth sounded better--and about really stupid stuff. But, he had a heart of gold and gave away more stuff than anyone I know.
I think his biggest problem was his raising. I didn't know it until I was grown, but his mother, stepfather, and younger siblings (at least 4 of them) lived down the road from me. Jimmy's mom was as rough as a cob--she could cuss a blue streak, and did on a regular basis. Those kids came up by the hair of their head. As rough as she was, Jim's mother had that same heart of gold, and as I was told she had a really rough time as a child also.
Jim's problems didn't stop when he left home. He had a few tradgedies in his life, ending with the cancer that took his life. When it was time, he sent his friends away, sat down in his home, and waited until he died.
He was absolutely amazing with a piece of wood. He made some beautiful furniture--he could do most anything with a piece of wood. He was good friends with Dan Quillian for a long time--even Dan was impressed with him, and could overlook his faults.
I lost contact with Jim the last few years before he died. He lived about 2 hours from me. I kept thinking I would take time to look him up...I waited too long. I got word of his passing from some mutual friends.
Eric isn't exaggerating in the least about the time it took Jim to make a wood bow, or the number of bows he made. Of course those of you that know Eric know Eric doesn't embellish...Jim taught lots of folks how me made bows, even showed a lot of scouts how to make a "survival bow" with nothing but a tomahawk in less than 20 minutes.
Love him or hate him, if you ever saw him in action you have to admit he was something else, and one of a kind. He's missed greatly by those who had the patience and understanding to overlook his faults.
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I have a rough finished hickory self bow of Mr. Taylor's. I have had it around ten years or so, and have not finished it. It pulls in the 50+ lb range, if I remember right. A simple, stout stick.
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Wow, sorry to hear this news. I used to sell Jim's bows, including a number like the one Terry showed. I occasionally had difficulties getting my order from him. The last one took about a year and a half and I decided it wasn't the best business relationship. Sure sorry to hear of his passing, though. He was a unique and special individual.
Guy
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I hated to hear Jim passed. Eric & Chad pretty much told the story.
I met Jim at his home & shop south-east of Russellville, AL up on the mountain in about 2000-2003. He invited me in and showed me around both, made me a hickory/cherry LB - yes that quick. Then he hand twisted a flemish string for it. I think he told me he was part Choctaw. He drove a Harley, had a Chevy S-10, and a full-size van w/trailer to go to events. He also worked as a mechanic in a local motorcyle shop later on, before he passed.
He grew some cane behind his shop for arrows, and made all his hickory lams. He rigged up an old welder or transformer to supply the juice to heat up his metal form liners to cure his fiberglass limb/epoxy layups.
On one visit, from out of a pile of sawdust and wood scraps, he pulled out what vaguely looked like a short recurved limb; he said it was a prototype for Dan Q's foot that had to be amputated after his bear hunt. Pretty cool. Jim was a character to say the least.
At that time, Cliff and Thomas were helping him make bows - or maybe he was training them - neat guys.
The below are some notes I kept of his bows he made. The kids bow and Hickory lam'd Cherry were unfinished prices. The recurves were named after the form/pattern he'd copied them from. I shot several that he had on hand and over time bought the Canebrake recurve (after Dan Q's form)-walnut & elm with clear glass, a hickory lam/Cherry LB, and serveral kids bows to get young-un's started.
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Bow Prices as of December 2003
Kids Bow 48” Red Oak $10
Laminated Hickory/Cherry Longbow 50”, 58”, 68” $20
Recurve (Black Glass)
46” York Classic $35
58” Ben Pearson Hunter II (Rev. Handle) $50
62” York Classic $50
Canebrake 62” $100
(Walnut riser w/accent stripes, Red Elm limbs, clear glass)
Kodiak 60” $100
Reflex/Deflex Longbow 64” $75? Smooth
Long Hunter Longbow (Dan Quillen) 70" - $??.
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My brother and I both still have our Canebrakes - they shoot pretty fast, too. Interestingly, his was the first skinny FF string I'd seen (10-12 years ago).
Terry, that bow is his "Reflex/Deflex Longbow 64 inches" and it was indeed a smooth drawing bow. I wish I'd bought one of them. Jim shot some cedars out of one he had just made and then let me try. He was a much better shot than I.
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Just found this...
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from Jake Allen05-31-2012, 09:37 AM
His Obit:
Jimmy Randolph Taylor, 51, Russellville, Alabama passed away May 27, 2012 at his home. He was a member of the Historical Nature American Choctaw Tribe and the Church of Christ. Survivors include son, Mark Taylor; father, James Taylor; sister, Debra Handley. He was preceded in death by mother, Sue Loyd; grandparents, Ruby and Allen Dickens. A graveside service will be Saturday, June 2, 2012, 2 p.m., at Old Brick Cemetery in Ford City. Pinkard Funeral Home assisted the family.
A colorful character he was. I first met him 2008, on a hot August afternoon at a flea market in Carrollton, Ga. He had two tables full of bows, and about 300 more in the back of a truck.
He took a minute to use those claws he had on the end
of his arms, to show me how to twist a bow string from a wad of artificial sinew. :biggrin3:
Last I saw him was at the Pow Wow last August in Rome.
He was full of tales about the tornados last spring in Alabama, and how everyone was helping put things back together over there.
Tomi and I bought 4 kid's bows from him. I haggled the price, and told him the plan was to get these shooting, and give them away, and I would make the strings for them.
He sold us 4 bows for the price of two. Can't beat that.
He ask if he could help with the TBG Youth Trailer some last fall. Of course, I said, it will be an honor. I gave him my phone number, but never heard back.
He also attended at least one shoot at NGT that I know of; August 2009.
He did not shoot the course but once, but did hang around and eat watermelon.
God Speed Jimmy Taylor; and God Bless your family, and friends, and ease the grief during this time.
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I got it from Larry Hatfield that he never made bows for Martin.
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That's Jimmy, he said he made bows for Martin, like I said, he had trouble seperating fact from fiction.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/JimmyTaylor_zps518e73d8.jpg)
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Anyone who has been around archery a while has a Jimmy Taylor story to tell.
Once Jimmy put out a flier about the huge archery tournament he was hosting. He stated he had a challenging course with all new McKenzie targets, hundreds of NA friends from all over the country would be having a Pow-Wow at the same time at his place. All the archery greats at the time would be there as guest speakers.
When we got there there were 8 or 10 of Jimmy's NA friends, pretty well lit, having a fish fry. His tournament course consisted of trash bags that Jimmy had sprayed expanding foam in and shaped to some semblance of unrecognizable animals. None of the archery greats were in attendance.
That was Jimmy in a nutshell. We actually had fun on his archery course and got a good laugh out of the whole affair.
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Very interesting stories! I bet if you had Jimmy, Dan Quilian and Jerry Hill all in one spot now that would be a hoot. Never remember meeting Jimmy but I knew the others well back in the day.
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I own a couple "Jimmy Taylor" Bows. As has been stated everyone has a Jimmy Story! Mine are all good, but I knew about his rep., so i just didn't get in over our heads.
Likable guy, generous to a fault, one of the best liars I ever had the chance to listen to.
I called him Friend, what more needs to be said.
Johnny/JAG
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Jimmy made a lot of those black glass bows (in picture) for me to sell. I am not sure but I think I sold them for about $125. He used hickory cores most of the time. He was buying the glass out of Canada.On a scale of 1-10 on value they were a 9, good buy for the money. Scoring on 1-10 on quality and workmanship, I would give them a 4-6 depending on who was in the shop running the gluing machine. I sold a ton of the kid's version of that bow. 3Rivers was buying them for awhile. I stopped shipping them to 3Rivers when quality faded and he could not keep up with the orders.Jimmy would always show excitement in the beginning of a project and quality was fairly good but as the excitement faded (quickly) so did the quality of the work, especially in the glass backed bows. Jimmy also had a problem with math. He would tell me he had 50 bows ready for me to pick up. I would drive the 60 miles and find he had about a dozen ready.
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Too Funny Eric.....
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One more point about those bows. I watched him many times as he wrote his name and weight on the bows. He would not use a scale to weigh the bow most of the time. He would pull it back and say "that's 55 lb", and then write that on the bow. I challenged him a few times on the weight and he would put it on the scale to see if he was right. Believe it or not, he had it right, within a pound or two almost every time. Because he did that, I had him stop writing the weight on the kids bows. I weighted them and marked them myself to be sure they were right.
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Here is another story about Jimmy. Those of you who remember Sipsey River Traditional Archery (now Big Jim's) know that I sold the Gold Tip Blems. I was talking to Jimmy one day about how many I was selling and he told me about a guy he knew who goes to Korea and China and could get me carbon shafts for less than $.50 each. He refused to give me they guys name because he wanted a commission/finder's fee on what I bought and sold. I agreed and he said he would set it up. This went on and on for months and I kept pushing him to get it done. He swore "the guy" was getting the shafts, "they are on the way", but it never happened. That was Jimmy.
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Wow...this thread has taken on a life of its own.... :campfire:
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He was one of a kind. I also have two bows that he made. I supposedly have the first fiberglass rcurver. At least it has 001 on the bow but who knows. IF you had ever met the man you would you would say that he aint right. :biglaugh: LOL
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I still have one of the first (of many) bows he gave me. A little osage propeller bow he made my son, when my son was 2--he shot the stew out of that thing. My son turns 18 next month.
Nope--he wasn't right, no way-shape-form-or fashioned...but he was entertaining. Those tournaments he used to put on with the homemade targets were a hoot. I never did hit that !%@#% running rabbit...sucker was doing about 180 mph...
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What a fun little read...I guess we all have a Jimmy or two in our lives.
Thanks for sharing.
:coffee:
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Callin this one back up bc I noticed something. (Not going to tell any Jimmy stories, although I have a few -echoing the above).
I own one of the same LB's Terry was asking about in the OP. Mine has a walnut riser, and red oak under clear glass limbs, and was $90. Good shooter.
I was told it was a Dan Quillian design. But I just got to looking at the Sky Archery Trophy -dead ringer for my Taylor/Quillian bow.
http://www.skyarchery.com/tour/tour-12trophy.htm
Designs probably get around, and I suppose Earl Hoyt Jr was a good one to copy from.
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Think I'll revive it again. I met Jimmy at a gun show in Birmingham. I was repping for a company out of PA. that manufactured some Trad bow stuff. Jimmy had gotten my name and number from the factory as the Alabama rep so he called to talk some business. I didn't know anything about him. He told me about how he built astronomical numbers of bows daily and the he did work for Martin and Hoyt. He also said he made all of Quillen's bows too. I told him I was looking to buy an Osage bow in the 50 to 55 lb range. He said he had one that he had built the day before and the customer had backed out on the deal. $100 as I recall. I told him I'd meet him at the show that Saturday and to bring the bow. We met, he had the bow, I bought it. I took his order, passed it on to the factory who checked his credit and references. I got a call from the factory saying that they thought they'd pass on him as a dealer. At that point I started looking online and finding all the mixed bag of reviews about him. Who knew? He was a nice guy as far as I knew. Funny and full of stories. Enjoyed meeting him. Still have the bow. Marked 55# and his name. Too heavy for me now. Wish it was a 35#. Excellent Osage bow, straight and stout.
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On a rainy day, hardly nothing beats a hot cup of coffee and an old thread like this one. :thumbsup:
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wish I could have been at that shoot he put on! :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
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They were fun and funny, as long as you didn't take yourself too seriously and had a sense of humor.
I remember one shoot he put on had a "pumpkin" target--a trash bag full of expanding foam hanging from a limb with a stripe around the middle. The stripe was the bull.
The Indian vendors were a hoot. I had one that wanted me to make strings for him--as quick and cheap as I could. I made 35 or so that evening...by far the most I've ever made in that period of time. No trimming, no serving, no back-twist, lengths were approximate--he didn't care. We traded out...I got a load of stuff for those strings. That was dang near 20 years ago...time sure flies.
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Thought I'd bring this one back up for Teal coin hope he sees it. I think this may be your bowyer.
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Thanks Darin. I did find this thread via the search option. Answers a lot of questions. Sounds like quite the character. Take care
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I was real close to ordering a bow from Jimmy,severall times through the years, but i just couldnt get over the negative reports id get and chickened out.
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wow I haven't heard Jimmy's name in years he made my very first selfbow back in the early 90's I think,,,, my experience was a bad one though but no need to bring it up anymore I actually enjoy reading the positive stuff here about Jimmy Taylor wish I attended that expandable foam shoot also,,,actually its a good idea for a quick backyard target expandable foam in a trash bag..
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One of the funniest and fun tributes I have ever read. The candor is awesome.
It is funny how we can measure a man isn't it?
Whether it is how they conduct parts of their life, skin color, politics, religion etc. none of that matters. You really need to look at the whole of the person but that can be hard to do in the moment - been there sadly.
As I get older I think maybe the best way to measure a man may be fairly simple "Is this someone I would like to sit down and have a beer with or not?"
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Originally posted by lt-m-grow:
It is funny how we can measure a man isn't it?
Boy...you said a mouthful....I get measured everyday by folks that have never met me and have no ruler.
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I bought a Jim Taylor bow and it has a1861 Confederate States of America penny embedded in it does anyone have any information about this bow
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Just realized how old this thread was... :dunno:
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Interesting!
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire: