What inspired you....

[soy]

Originally posted by crittergetter:
Awesome guys. Roy, I see you mounted that one!  U said no wise cracks but u can't post a pic like that on here and not get a ribbin from us!!

       

[Wolftrail]

Not exactly sure what got me going.  Maybe it was finding that stick lying in the bush about 3 years ago. Stumbled upon one bowyers site then another, then another and it took off from there, now I'm building takedowns. Have always liked woodwork so the 2 go hand in hand. Heck I'm over 50, if I could turn back the clock the first thing I would do is build a bow. ...  

[Charlie Hinkel]

Crittergetter's story reminds me of my Fathers story(who was and still is my inspiration for trad archery and woodworking). He told me one time that he even wanted to marry a real Indian, but my Mom was the closest he could find! I grew up on archery in the mid '70s, my Dad was making bows 25 years or so before I was even born. I loved to spend time with him in the bow shop, mostly because that was the only time I would get to see him, even if it was just playing with the triangle shaped cut offs from the risers at age 3. To me it was a natural thing, I thought it was  abnormal that other families were not archers/bow hunters.

[takefive]

I got back into archery a few years ago after losing interest and taking a short 20 year break from it.  I found a big online forum which was mostly about form and target shooting, but I found out that guys were shooting longbows and recurves and enjoyed it so much that their compounds were just collecting dust (!).  

Somewhere between the endless debates on form, grip, release, etc., somebody mentioned that guys were actually making their own bows at a place called TradGang.   I found 4est trekker's famous pyramid bow build along and made the clunkiest, ugliest bow you could imagine.  I still cringe when I look at it now, but being hickory it didn't break, and I really enjoyed the process of making it.  

So I guess I blame you guys for getting me hooked on this stuff.  And especially that #%@!#ing Roy!    :D

[ColonelSandersLite]

I just like shooting, like bows, and like making things.  Sort of a natural match.

[George Tsoukalas]

While growing up on a farm my first bows were bent saplings. Fun days.

Later Ma and Dad bought be a composite wooden bow. That bow pulled up a splinter and I remember thinking how neat it would be to build a bow.

Not yet. My parents bought me another which I shot for several years.

As an adult I ought a few FG recurves.

When I walked into Silver Arrow Archery and saw Bob's beautiful osage bows I started trying to learn.

It was  a tough road over 3 years but I finally got my firs sometime in the early 90's. I made it from black locust and still have it.

Jawge

[Eric Krewson]

I was walking down a road at my hunting club in the early 90s and ran across another member I didn't know who was carrying what looked like a tree limb with a string on it.

I was toting by fancy Bighorn recurve and asked" do you hunt with that, ever kill anything with it?"

He answered in the affirmative so I had to know more.

Not knowing me from Adam, he still invited me to his house for a little bow making instruction. I took to the instruction like a duck to water and was soon obsessed with cutting osage and making bows. My mentor, Joe Bogle is now one of my best friends and hunting partners.

Because of Joe's generosity in sharing his knowledge with me, I feel I need to "pay it forward" as well and share what I have learned about bow making over the years.

[Bert Frelink]

I had the good fortune to meet and hang out with Jay Massey,John Strunk,Dick Robertson,Stan Smith, Darrel Cardwell etc etc at one of the very first North American Longbow Safari's and was absolutley mesmerized by Jay sitting around the fire at night chopping on a chunk of Osage, it lit the fire, I then had the intestinal fortitude to take a number of John's classes and will be forever gratefull for his guidance.

[Mark R]

I've been a carpenter builder my whole life and hunted successfully with a compound for 20 years. Met a guy at local archery range that made pretty cool selfbows, and through info on the web and especially tradgang made my first lamenated r&d longbow,a 60#er still shoot it. Since then I've made 5 different forms,highbreed & recurves and have made a dozen so far, each one getting better each time.Oh this is still a hobby for me,or is it an addiction,I have so many ideas on future bows running through my mind.

[WESTBROOK]

I've been in traditional archery since the early 90's. Started shooting recurves then those short curvy hybrids, moved on to longer mild D/R longbows and now mostly straight Hill style bows. Dont know if you'd call it progression or digression getting to where I'm at now.

I've always admired the folks hunting and killing animals with their own self made gear and a selfbow & cane arrows was good as it gets for me.

I've had the itch for the last couple years to try building a wooden bow and it has gotten the best of me. Been hangin' around "the bench" for quite a while reading all the great info available to us here and making plans for bow #1, A simple Hickory backed Osage flatbow..ya gotta walk before ya can run..

Inspiration? right here!

[DaveMac]

I fell ill summer 2010 and spent a long time in treatment, chemotherapy had some side effects and I had some nerve damage on my left side. A friend recommended that I try archery as a form of physio and I promised myself that one day I would build a long bow. Last year I built my first with the help of a few books and some advice from the members of this forum

   

[Troy D. Breeding]

Been fascinated with bows my whole life. Even as a kid I was always putting a string on something to make a bow.

One day my dad told me "son, don't you know the Indians almost starved to death until they got guns?"

Well, later I found out that the Indians probably had it better before getting guns. No outsiders hunting for fur trade or trying to feed everyone in the big cities.

Bought my first bow when I was 14. Mom almost flipped her lid when she seen it. Dad told her it was my money and if I wanted to waste it on something that wasn't worth a toot it was my business.

Took my first deer 2 years later. That's when my dad changed his mind. He liked not having so much messed up meat like you get with a bullet.

Since then I have gone form glass to all wood and back several times. Love them all.

[Martin Schutte]

Hi guys been putting strings on everything looking like a bow since I've been a kid,blow darts, throwing knives been making knives since 2008/2009 and met a well known bowyer shortly after that and became friends. Shot a bow he made for a friend (actually he has +-34 different bows made by all South African bowyers) and a few years later meaning now the present the bug bit me hard and I can not afford his bows (they are for high end export) so I decided to make myself a bow I can use! So that's that!    

[PEARL DRUMS]

Two words.......Roy-Painter

That's all the inspiration a guy needs.