I spoke with Bob Savage today and learned more about the Deathmaster recurve. I should have been writing things down. Bob said he mentioned to an interviewer for Traditional Bowhunter mag that he liked the 55" Necedah. Back in 64', he called Ernie Root and spoke with him about the bow. I believe he said Root used Harry Drake designed limbs in the Necedah. Bob was inspired by the Necedah but changed the design by shortening the riser on his longer bows and lengthening the riser on the shorter bows. He also made changes to the limbs. Some years later, Drake sent Bob flight limbs he had used to set flight records with. They arrived when Paul Schafer was visiting. Paul measured the limbs and Savage believes used them on his take down Silvertip. Still, he said nobody really copied anything, as everyone had their own favorite limb laminations and tapers and such.
He said Jack Howard had a big collection of bows and used the Howatt Hunter riser on his Gamemaster Jet. He said all the bowyers shot many bows of various designs and all borrowed from each other. He said Paul made the Deathmaster for several years and kept the limb design in his 60" one-piece Silvertip. He and Paul also developed many of their own ideas and put them into their bows. He said you can use a computer to design a bow but you still have to build and shoot the bow. He learned some bow designs store a lot of energy but don't release it. I think he meant they don't release it properly. It's not an exact science. He feels there have been no performance gains since 1964. He also mentioned his mentor Jack Whitney. He said Whitney designs were a great influence on him, as Whitney taught him to build bows.
He felt it was fair to say the 55" Necedah, not the later 58", did influence his design, but his final design was different in both limbs and riser and there is Harry Drake influence in the limbs. He felt it fair to call his design an improvement on the Necdah. Bob incorporated a stronger riser design too. He said he did not use anything from Howatt bows in his designs. It seems Bob was most impressed with Harry Drake's flight designs. That explains why the Deathmaster is smoking fast. Overall, it was an interesting conversation and one I hope adds to our knowledge of these bowyers and their bows.
Joe
Topic: Notes on the Deathmaster (Read 958 times)
