Weekend at the Sunbear bow shop

[Jim Jackson]

A few months back Charlie Lamb came down to the Ozarks to chase some turkeys.  He happened to bring along a recently completed longbow of new design.  In the afternoons we shot around some, and I jumped at the chance to try out the longbow.  Light in the hand, fast on the string, and deadly accurate...I had to have one.           Charlie, Chris, and Tom jump in also...

More later... here is a teaser


   

[bowhunterfrompast]

   

[paleFace]

now this should be good!  Installments would be just how Mr. Lamb would be doing it.    

[Greyfox54]

Charlie's bows are surely a functioning work of art . Fred

[K.S.TRAPPER]

This will be fun            

Tracy

[Frenchymanny]

         ready for a great thread!

F-Manny

[Gatekeeper]

After a rough start Chris, LC (little Charlie) and I were on the road to BC (big Charlie) and Billie’s house. Whoa… wait a minute…one more trip back to the Kinslow house after LC said, “daddy is my bow in the back?”      “Hey guy’s we’re in here.” Charlie calls out.

We emerge from the darkness through the double doors of the gambrel roof, wooden out building leaving behind the croaking sounds of the tree frogs that live in the timber surrounding the Lamb residence to see the smiling faces of BC and Andrew Kinslow (Stoney). After greetings were given and received, my eyes started to dart around the structure’s interior to take in as much of the surrounding as I could before I began hammering Charlie with questions. I was standing in a place where I could see first hand how a laminated bow is build and with Charlie’s kind personality I knew he would take the time to demonstrate and explain any step that I needed to have explained to me in more detail. But, the bow build would have to wait until the next day. The rest of that Friday evening and early into Saturday’s morning, it was guy time… Time to catch up on the past events in each of our lives, dream about future hunts, drink liquids from brown bottles and B.S. until almost 2:00 in the morning.

[TNstickn]

     come on with it.

[Gatekeeper]

Andrew,

I find it interesting that you picked the picture above to show as your first picture. Out of the handful of pictures that I sent you, this one is my favorite. It shows the heart of the bow in its raw stage as it was being shaped, some basic tools of the trade in the back ground and the picture captures the energy that Charlie was putting into shaping handle’s design. Pretty cool.

[Jim Jackson]

Tom,

There wasn't any question which pic I was going to use for the intro.  You are exactly right, it captures the heart of the bow in its raw form.  Thanks!

[Jim Jackson]

Ok, now where was I....

To really understand this story we need to back up even further.

Seems like southwest Missouri doesn't get much snow anymore, just ice storms.  We are well pruned to say the least.  I have enough firewood to last for years, and rather than see it all go up in smoke I have been taking trees of quality to a local sawmill for processing.  I have osage, walnut, cherry, persimmon, elm, and honey locust in very good condition.  Which brings us up to speed for the turkey hunt with Lamb.

I invited Charlie to look through the stacks and see if he would like any for laminations or risers.  My brother had a Sunbear recurve in the works, and we both have a thing for capturing some of the mojo from the farm by using wood off of the farm in our bows.  Chris' features Osage, and I opted for something different with the honey locust.  We spent lots of time and good conversation grading the lumber and cutting laminations in the afternoons after our morning turkey excursions.

Here's Christopher and I rough cutting what will eventually become the laminations for someone's bow:

 


Here we are rough cutting the riser block for his bow:

 


Planing the riser block:

 


Ready for Charlie's shop:

 


We didn't have much luck with the turkey's that weekend, but we sure had good conversation and fellowship in among the sawdust...

[BMN]

     This has all the makings of becoming a Tradgang classic.

[Chris Surtees]

This is going to be a good one!

[Missouri CK]

As Andrew stated this whole project started back in April with two weekends of Turkey hunting. The first down at my brothers farm near Springfield and the next up in northwest Missouri near Weston.  We threw the book at the birds but didn't have any luck.  When the birds aren't cooperating you have to resort to other tactics.

Shooting some arrows...
 

Catch some fish...
 

Or look at some of Tracy's sheds..
 

[Missouri CK]

And if all else fails and you can't get that perfect hero shot with the fanned out turkey, then you make do with the material at hand.
   

These were the "hero pics" from some of the laminations that we cut out while we were at Andrew's house.  Andrew is holding the honey locust he used in this bow. I'm holding the cedar laminations that we are going to use on my bow later this summer.

[frank bullitt]

Do you notice, just like Tom Sawyer, another Missouri boy, Charlie's got them "white washing the fence"! Great story, gentleman!

[Guru]

[Jim Jackson]

July 11 sounds like a long way off when its April.  With farm work, teaching summer school, and generally life the time flew by.  First of July I got an email from Charlie with some ideas on the bow and next thing you know I am on my way north.  

I arrived at Charlie's to an open door and warm welcome.  We soon ventured out to the bow shop and I opened the door to what would become a fascinating weekend.  A dozen bows hanging from the back wall invited a host of questions.  His first Sunbear: Scar,  up to the latest fresh from the form.  Beautiful black phenolic riser, with intricate accents.  I inquired about the limbs, and Charlie surprised me in saying they were the walnut laminations we cut back in April.  Two new recurves with the gnarliest beautiful osage out of the riser block we cut.  It was like being a kid in a candy shop!

 


 


 


Soon we saw the headlights from Christopher, Tom, and my nephew.  Charlie called out and invited them into the glow of the woodshop.  Soon the questions started all over...with Charlie graciously answering each.  

I gravitated to the back of the shop and let Chris and Tom experience what I had been basking in for the evening.  I nosed through scrap cutoffs trying to guess the woods.  I looked through stacks of riser blocks and imagined the future bows that would come out of each.  Then behind the bow forms I found a small riser block freshly glued from that afternoon.  I asked Charlie, "What's the story on this one?"  He grinned and said, "That's yours bud, and were going to build it this weekend."  

Back in April I imagined seeing several different bows in various configurations of construction, but I never thought we would take one from start to finish.  Let alone take my own personal bow from a riser block to working piece of art.

Needless to say, I couldn't think of much else as we passed the evening away getting caught up into the early hours of the morning...  This is what traditional archery is all about.

[Gatekeeper]

Morning wakeup for me arrived around 7:30…. everyone was up but me. We all huddled around the dinning room table nursing our coffee and waking our taste buds up with donuts. Soon it was time and Charlie said, “Well let’s get out there” and away we went.

We entered the 20’ x 12’ outbuilding and the first order of business was to get the AC going. Although crowded inside the shop, with four other bodies to work around, Charlie skillfully and patiently maneuvered around us gathering the gray diamond wood, phenolic and honey locust riser and the honey locust and bamboo laminations. With true teaching style, Charlie showed us individually the step that he was taking or gathered us all around to explain the process that he was about to engage in. Always taking the time to answer our questions, no matter how ridiculously simple they might have been, Charlie made us feel welcome and seem to enjoy showing us his craft.

Not wanting to get in the way, but wanting to be a part of the bow building process, we all took turns helping out where we could. Mostly, we found ourselves running the shop-vac or handing the Sunbear creator the tools he needed. The day had just started but was shaping up to be a day to remember…

[Missouri CK]

While Andrew is out working on hay at his farm I'll fill some time in with some more pictures.

My son, aka Little Charlie (LC) has grown up around the traditional archery in our family.  He is quick to point out deer that he sees when he is riding around in the tractor with Pops (his grandpa).  He goes with me to Tom Porter's house and shots his bow on the 3D course that Tom has.  Most of all LC is a very patient little boy. He endures my endless talking with Tom or the long trip to St. Louis without much complaining.  He sat in the shed and drew on his notebook while we worked on the bows.
 

While enthraling to us adults I'm sure bow building isn't very captivating to a 4 year old.  I made sure we took several breaks to let LC swim in the pool or shoot his bow.  This time he wanted Big Charlie to watch him shoot.

 

 

I've tried not to push archery on him and when he gets tired of it we put it away.  I hope he continues to want to be like the big boys and shoot his bow because he is already getting pretty good at it. Maybe some day he will want to take a trip to the Mountains with Dad and chase after some deer or elk. Time will tell.