I should introduce myself

[moosemoose]

Hello everyone my name is Jeff Forman and I live in Mason (central) Texas.  I work for the wildlife division of Texas Parks and Wildlife on one of the state's wildlife management areas.  My job description contains the words "wildlife management and research in the field"  and I love my work.  

I started shooting bows in the early 80's one of my college buddies sold me his worn out Darton compound and some bent arrows for way more than they were worth and my love for flinging arrows began.  Of course hunting whitetails and jackrabbits soon followed.  Compounds and their accessories were prone to mechanical failure back then and a hunting buddy traded a Bear recurve for my compound... good trade!   I had absolutely no idea how to shoot instictively but I had fun shooting and before long I had acquired some consistant accuracy.  The Bear Grizzly I had obtained in that trade finally broke a limb and I purchased a Martin hunter brand new for $114 dollars they are over $400 now unbelievable.  I began shooting 3-D archery tournaments and involved the family in my passion and really shot arrows every day of the year for several years either hunting, practicing or at a 3-D tournament.

  Then one day a friend put a Bingham project bow in my hand... I shot that straight limbed bow that actually had the tapers glued in backwards (this was my friends first attempt at bow making)very well and that is when I decided to build glass longbows.  I sold that bow to buy who knows what for building bows and began designing my own (i know crazy huh I knew squat about bow design) and selling to friends... fortunately they looked good and held together some even killed a deer or two.  But I never shot one of my longbows as well as the one my friend built (who was also designing r/d and extreme pronounced bows now).  I guess I got tired of trying to shoot a bow of my design consistantly and quit the whole process to just shoot recurves.  

Why am I here?  I have the bug to do it all again... but I want to start with a very simple design and simple techniques.  This forum is exactly what I was looking for and I'm anxious to meet all of you.     Jeff

[Eric Krewson]

Texas, lots of osage, you sound like a good candidate for building SELFBOWS. Down to earth, basic and simple as you can get.

[moosemoose]

Eric, I've made 2 bows out of osage both were in between 30 and 35#'s... I worked so hard on those bows.  I don't know if I'd be willing to try again, maybe I've gained more patience since I last tried.  I have a well seasoned hickory stave I've been thinking about...

[George Tsoukalas]

Welcome, moose. Nice to hear from you. My site may help you. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/