I recently attended one of Hornes Archery's 2-Day bow-building schools; and I just wanted to convey my deepest appreciation to Mark and Sandy for the great experience that this turned out to be for me!
I arrived there on Friday evening, March 5th and received the "royal treatment" from Mark and Sandy... including a wonderful Elk steak dinner and all the trimmings... what a thoughtful treat they gave me after a long day of driving.
I stayed at their bunk house located at the back of their property and it was so roomy and comfortable. Mark and Sandy have been working diligently to renovate this double-wide and it was extremely nice, and on-site.
At 8:00 Saturday morning I met the other 3 fine gentlemen that I would spend the next 2 days with... Dan & Ron Morrow, and Josh from S. TX. It was just so much fun getting to know everyone, and learning the steps in bringing our bows up to speed using simple tools such as rasps, sand paper, steel wool a vise and a few of the belt sanders and other hand tools.
This wonderful traditional experience will be etched in my mind forever, I felt almost giddy and even a bit nervous during the entire process, becuase I must admit that I am pretty wood-working challenged. But under Mark's oversight and tutiledge, I managed to pull off a 3-piece longbow that I am finding that I shoot better than ANY of the other custom longbows I currently own, with some costing TWICE the amount! Mark's design is that good!!
From my perspective, Mark gave just the right amount of instruction, but still gave us full freedom to bring about our own artistic qualities to the bow. Josh, Dan and Ron's bows were all so beautiful! We had a great time building and shooting our bows and hanging out at the local Mexican place for some great eats!
Furthermore, I have the pride of knowing that I used my own hands to craft this amazing little bow. I went with a Buginga handle with Bucote overlays, and Tonkin Bamboo limbs. It is a smooth and hard hitting combination to be sure. I had hoped to put it to the test in TX on HUNT #5, but I didn't manage to get a shot on this hunt, so that will have to wait to another day.
I want to recommend to anyone in Traditional Archery to get yourself to one of Mark and Sandy's schools. The hospitality is A++, and the wisdom and experience gained is invaluable in so many ways. Plus you walk away with a beautiful new bow that YOU MADE!!! How cool is that???
Me, Ron, Dan and BIG Josh with our beauties!
The Man, the Myth, the Legend!
My longbow getting ready for final spray in the booth.
Topic: Updated PICS - trip to Horne's Archery (Read 408 times)
