I'll post these 1st, then post mine later.
A friend of mine wanted to buy his 2 employers(both brothers) a bow. I have known all 3 a long time and have hunted with them all many times. This was some gesture from an employEE.
Now, they all shot compounds....but when we started hunting together the 3 became quiet intrigued watching me shoot the longbow.
We'll, one got ambushed by me and I told him to shoot it just once....and when he did, he wanted to shoot again....after a short tutoring, keeping it simple my friend was acting like a kid. He had to have the same bow that I had, and he told me to order him one and to pick out the woods for him....not only that, but I had to find him a used one so he would have one to shoot during the 4 month wait. I did a thread on him back in 2010.
Well, two years later he he made the call to me that he wanted me to play Santa, and he wanted me to call both brothers and announce that I was Santa and the elves were frantically working on them a custom MOAB from Jim Reynolds. He had me call them because he knew they would give him a fit about it. And, he commissioned me to not only to order the right length, weight and draw length, but to totally handle the wood combos.....
Now, this being laid on me really made me think long and hard about what the bows should look like as I really wanted them to be stunning as they would no doubt hang them in the office while not in the field.
I wanted them to 'POP'...I wanted to push the envelope, but not over the edge, I wanted a little 'wild flare' mixed with a less wild but striking risers and overlays. Since they were brothers, I wanted to make them 'sister bows'. Same limb veneers but same woods reversed in the flared riser he offers.
Now here's where another Jim comes in...Big Jim. I called him to see if he would sell me some of those beautiful back ebony veneers I'd seen before and send them to Jim Reynolds. As always, Big Jim said...'Not a problem". Big Jim even got the specs needed from Jim Reynolds and cut me 3 sets off of 3 different blocks. I picked two sets for front and back for both and he sent them to Thunderstick.
I'd picked Bacote and Cocobolo for a nice semi contrast risers...again reversed so each brother would have their own look and could recognize who's was who's with a glance without having to read the inscriptions.
Now some might not agree with my choices, but I thought they would come out stunning, again, some might not agree, but the employee and the employers made comments of...WOW, striking, gorgeous, I can't stop looking at it....and that's all that mattered to me. And I'll also add that I would love to have not only my 1st bow to look this good, but I'd love to have one like them myself today.
Many thanks Jim and Jim.