Another Doctari Cedar Bow Rack

[Labs4me]

Hey Gang:

I'd like to take a moment and pay a compliment to one of our own- Mark Vickers, a.k.a. "Doctari". As is the case with many in our traditional family (Sticshooter, Robtattoo, Atlatlzoom, Tim Roberts, just to name a few) , Doctari is an incredibly talented individual and one of his obvious talents is working with wood. Back sometime around Christmas, after seeing a photo of his personal bow rack on the TG site, I PM-ed Mark and asked if he'd be interested in making me a cedar bow rack. To my delight, he said he would and the result of my request is depicted in the photos below.

The process was simple. I took a few measurements of my available wall space, drew-up a rough sketch of what I had in mind, and then mailed the sketch to Mark. Over the course of several phone conversations in which Mark offered a few good suggestions, we finalized the design of my rack. Little did I know it would turn out so nice. It was as if Mark had actually came to my home to take the measurements himself.

Fast forward about six weeks to the present when yesterday, I had a chance to pick up my bow rack and meet Mark in person at his home. After a quick hand shake, Mark invited me into his home and showed me his work shop/Man-room where he does his wood working. After showing me my bow rack and several dozen custom arrows he had just finished making (these were top shelf, handcrafted wood arrows!), Mark gave me a tour of his traditional archery "Man-room", which any traditionalist would find impressive. That is, if you're someone who would appreciate seeing a life size mount of an 800# Alaskan Brown Bear, and caribou, and trophy Montana Whitetail, and lots of other traditional archery related photos, books, etc.

Mark's bow racks are custom in the truest sense of the word. He cuts the cedar logs himself, planes the cedar boards, hand-sands all the wood, and after assembling the rack, puts a couple coats of clear sealant on the cedar to bring out the wood grain and help protect it. I can't tell you how pleased I am with Doctari's work. I hope these pictures do his bow rack justice.

     

     

     

[MJB]

BEAUTIFUL

[Lookinforlunkers]

An Awesome center piece to a beautiful room.  My hats off to the both of you  

[Curtis Haden]

Very Nice!!!

[bayoulongbowman]

Incrediable...what nice thing....I pay to have one like that sir!!!!  

[joe vt]

wow!! beautiful rack and a sweet room to boot!

[TimZeigler]

 Wish I had room for something like that in my home to proudly display my bows.  Very nicely done.  Tim

[brettlandon]

 

-Brett

[Kingstaken]

Whats all those dark marks,,,LQQks like alot of defects or worse yet worms. .    

LQQks like their speading all over you clear pine walls.
Better send to me so they don't eat you great lQQking room.    

[owlbait]

Impressive. Really like cedar. The lighting on that last picture really shows it off!

[buckshot95]

wow that is really nice. i built one out of pine it done look that nice. i love the look of cedar.

[Labs4me]

Even my wife gave it her stamp of approval. She appreciates rustic home accessories as much as I do (our home has a rustic theme), but she's a stickler for well built things. Especially stuff that goes in our great room. But after we hung it up, she said, "Boy that's beautiful!" Wheeeew! When Mama's happy- everyone's happy in my home.

Guys, you gotta know my wife. If she gives it her stamp of approval- that's really sayin' somethin'. If you've been thinking of treating yourself to a new bow rack or archery accessory rack, I really think you'd be pleased with Doctari's work. In fact, although I consider myself to be an above average arrowsmith, I'm going to have Doctari make me up a dozen custom cedar arrows to display on the bow rack.

[Killdeer]

It is perfect for that space. It looks like it grew there. Wish I had a house that looked like that!

Killdeer  

[John C Keith]

I agree with all above.  Sweet bow rack and awesome room.  I hope to make at least on room like that in my house... ahh some day.

Also like the Trad Gang anme drop in the third pic!

Thanks for sharing.

[doctari]

Monty, It looks real nice in your home. I am glad you and your wife appreciate it. Mark

[Labs4me]

Hi All:

Thanks for the kind words. My wife and I built our modest home about eight years ago- just an average size ranch. Originally we had thought of building a log home, but because we essentially built our home in the middle of an open farm field, we were concerned that the sun would reek havoc on the logs. So we ended up building a conventional home, except that we finished the inside in a rustic theme using tongue and groove knotty pine that I hung myself (it took me an entire summer picking away at it after work) and then finished the wood with natural shellac because I wanted to avoid all the chemicals associated with more conventional wood stains.

My wife and I both subscribe to the old saying that, "A house is not necessarily a home", so when we moved in, we resisted the temptation to rush out and buy a bunch of meaningless "stuff" just to fill up the (then) empty rooms. Little by little, over the years we have slowly started to turn our house into a home with meaningful furnishings such as our new bow rack made by Doctari. For instance, the unstrung recurve on the top of the bow rack is a bow that I bought my wife back in the early '90s before we were married. I made the smaller of the two quivers hanging in the corner for her using a western rattler that I skinned myself (and Fed-Exed home) during a Montana vacation about ten years ago. The Black Widow MAII on the bottom of the rack was my first "major purchase" after graduating from college in the late '80s- I bought it before I purchased my first real car (made perfect sense at the time). And the painting of the Lab on the wall is actually of our Lab, Huck. A friend of ours named Christopher Smith- an amazing wildlife artist from Interlochen, MI (  http://chrissmithart.com/  ) has painted both of our Labs for us (the other painting of our Black Lab, Dakota hangs above our fireplace in another corner of the house). The grouse in the photo was flushed and retrieved by Huck after my wife made good on a tough left to right shot. Dakota retrieved the pair of wood ducks in the photo and he and I presented them to my wife as a Sweetest Day "present" back in '01. A very rare true "double" for me. Dakota brought them both back to hand, one at a time, in perfect condition so we just had to have them mounted- at least that's how we peddled the idea to my wife at the time.

I'd been holding out for the "perfect" bow rack and had passed on many over the years. And then I saw Doctari's on the TG site. I told Mark Vicker's (Doctari) that the bow rack he made for me was special not just because it is beautiful, but because it was made by a fellow Trad Ganger.

These are the kinds of special "things" that my wife and I feel are worth waiting for and that slowly, have helped to transform our house into a comfortable home.

Thanks again for the kind words.