Howdy Trad Gang,
Bowyer Jim Jones was recently featured in a local newspaper, I thought you might enjoy the article. It sheds another look at the master craftsman behind Firefly Bows. Article was featured in the "Record and Clarion" newspaper and is used here with permission.
Who made Robin Hood’s bows, and what is a bowyer anyway? By Rick Sigsby
Published: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 1:35 PM CDT
OK, I don’t know much about archery and I’m not a bow hunter. Oh sure, we shot arrows into the air to watch them go outta sight as kids (and yes, we ran like scared cats not knowing where it would land; didn’t we all?!) I took archery at camp, missed the target by a mile and stung my arm with the string. Fortunately I never stuck anyone or anything except a few bales of hay.
But right there every Sunday in church, I’d say howdy to one of the best traditional bow makers (bowyers) in Michigan, if not the country. Jim Jones (no not the cult leader or former football coach) is a quiet, gentle man who makes one of the best handmade long bows in America, right here in mid-Michigan. And he really isn’t old enough to have made bows for Robin Hood. But he’s good enough to sell them all over the world.
You’ve probably heard of a modern compound bow or a recurve bow made famous by another Michigander named Fred Bear. Think more along the lines of what the Indians used or Robin Hood against the Sheriff of Nothingham; those were long bows (a straight or slightly curved piece of wood with a piece of rawhide strung from end to end). To be specific, Jim makes a deflex-reflex long bow that comes in a three-piece takedown; the upper and lower limbs and the riser or handle. He lives just a few miles from the farm where he was raised in Coleman. A star athlete in high school, Jim didn’t even take up bow hunting until he bought a recurve bow in 1966. He quit hunting with a rifle two years later.
“My father had a long bow made out of lemonwood,” said Jones. “He probably bought it at Sears and as I recall, I broke it shooting arrows out in the yard (laughing). That wood comes from Cuba and you can’t even get it anymore.”
Over the years, Jim got to be quite proficient at bow hunting. There are 47 sets of antlers on the walls of his shop to prove it. To the uneducated archer, one would assume that a hunter using a compound bow has a higher success rate when hunting the allusive white-tailed deer. You would be wrong.
“Long bow hunters have a much higher success rate than someone using a recurve or compound bow,” said Jones. “The reasons are quite simple. Usually, the person using a long bow is older, more experienced and wouldn’t even attempt a shot at a deer outside of his or her kill range.”
After a 32-year career at Dow Chemical, Jim retired in 1999 to become a “work when I want to” bowyer as the only employee of Firefly Bows, LLC, which he started in 2000. Now with a global cliental, he is as busy as he wants to be. “I’m doing mostly custom work now, but still make a standard and deluxe model that is sold as stock over the Internet through Braveheart Archery. With a little advertising, I could expand and probably work 12 hours a day but that’s too much like a job. I love it enough to want to keep a high standard of quality to my work. But hey, I’m only four months behind in custom orders (laughing).”
As the years go by, Jim has acquired an extensive collection of bows and broadheads. Not long ago, I gave him a couple dozen Indian arrowheads my brother and I had found and collected when in Boy Scouts. They needed a good home. I recently wrangled an invitation to visit Jim’s shop and get educated on exactly how a bowyer makes a good long bow.
ROR: How did you get started in making bows?
Jim: There was a group of bow hunters that gathered at an archery shop in Midland and we decided to try our hand at making our own bows. So we all bought a “bow kit” and met over the course of four or five weeks. We were all trying compound bows but something was missing. It’s interesting because most of them have gone back to compounds and I went even further back to traditional long bow making. One of my first attempts was made out of Australian walnut from an old Dow pallet. I shot five deer with that before moving on.
ROR: Your Company is called Firefly Bows. How did that name come about?
Jim: By the time I had 50 or 60 bows out in circulation, I thought it was time to form an official business. When you go in my backyard on an evening in late June, the place is lit up with thousands of fireflies. It looks nicer than a Christmas tree; an amazing, thrilling sight. So the name seemed natural.
ROR: What process do you use to select which wood to start with?
Jim: There are tried and true woods that you know work well like hardrock maple, which 90 percent of Fred Bear’s bows were made of, and when traditional archery took off again in the early 90s everyone started using red elm. But the way to sell bows is to make them out of something different and unique. I actually make my stock bows out of bamboo flooring before it goes to the factory. Ironically, bamboo isn’t even wood, it’s a grass.
ROR: How long does it take for you to make a bow and arrow?
Jim: It takes me about four days to make a bow, which most of that time is in the epoxy and bow finish drying process. So I’m always working on several projects at once. And most everyone sticks to making either bows or arrows, not both. I always believed its best to make one thing that’s high quality rather than two things that aren’t very good.
ROR: What is the determining factor in choosing the right pound bow to use?
Jim: In my opinion, for deer hunting with a long bow, anything over 50 pounds isn’t necessary. Fred Bear sold tens of thousands of bows and they were all 45 pounds. Of course, when he was hunting for rhino, which has about a 3-inch thick hide, he needed a little more power!
ROR: Speaking of Fred Bear, what was his major contribution or claim to fame in archery?
Jim: He probably did as much as anyone to popularize archery both recreational and for hunting purposes. He was a great hunter himself (many people still remember his museum in Grayling, which eventually moved to Florida). But his real claim to fame was his promoting ability; he was a real promoter. He basically ruined deer hunting for bow hunters by lobbying Lansing for the two-season sport; to allow people to hunt both the rifle and bow seasons. But that doubled his market for selling bows.
ROR: What is the biggest mistake people make in shooting a bow?
Jim: Probably trying to use a much bigger bow than needed. It’s interesting how thirty years of shooting a compound bow effects a hunter’s health. You use small muscles to start the draw of a compound bow and when your large muscles come into play the draw is very easy because of the pulley system. Now hunters are suffering from joint problems and arthritis. But the macho guy with the 80-pound bow never thought of that.
ROR: Because you do mostly custom work, what is the most unique or strange request you’ve had?
Jim: I have a customer in Norway who has bought several bows from me. He took one to Africa and shot several large game animals. He also shot a 9-foot black mamba snake, which is one of the most deadly snakes in the world, and he found a large chunk of black thorn wood. So he recently shipped me the wood and snakeskin to make another bow. That certainly qualifies as unique.
ROR: You have an interesting company logo. Tell me about it.
Jim: It says “Firefly Bows James 4:14”, which is one my favorite bible verses. It says, “We are a vapor for a little while that vanishes.” I relate this verse to the flight of an arrow, which flashes away and disappears. I consider myself a Christian man and when people ask about it, I mention that when they read this verse they might think about where their life is headed as well. I’ve been very blessed in my life and this is just a small attempt to give something back.
ROR: You also have a good collection of bows. Do you have any special ones or have you seen any special ones?
Jim: I’ve got a few of Fred Bear’s original bow models that were made out of airplane aluminum. The epoxy wouldn’t bond properly and it almost took the company under before he changed to making recurves out of maple. A man in Mt. Pleasant had Errol Flynn’s bow that he used in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)that was pretty special.
ROR: There’s a new Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe coming out in May. He wouldn’t happen to be using a Firefly Bow would he?
Thanks, Jim.
Topic: Firefly Bowyer Jim Jones featured in local newspaper! (Read 814 times)
