Mr. Elmer Patton, as everyone already knows builds one heckuva nice longbow. A while back, I was talking with Elmer on the phone and asked him if he had ever considered building a set of recurve limbs for his Blackfeather riser. He told me that it had been at least a dozen years since he had built any recurve limbs for a Blackfeather, and wasn't sure that he could hit weight without wasting several expensive limb veneers.
Fast forward a few weeks.......I had been talking with my shooting buddy (Horner) while we were slingin' arrows one day about my conversation with Elmer. Bryan said.......man, I'd like to have a set of recurve limbs for mine too.
I gave Mr. Patton another call and told him that I also knew of another person that would love to have a set of recurve limbs for his Blackfeather too. Elmer said......"Let me play around with that idea a little bit"......not wanting to seem "pushy"......I left it at that and told him that I would give him another call in a week or two. The fact that he was even considering building us a set of limbs apiece was a GOOD sign to me.
A couple of weeks passed and both Bryan and I were dreaming of possibly owning a "complete package" Blackfeather was closer than either of us imagined. I gave Elmer another call and he said he was working on a set of recurve limbs for one of his Grandchildren's bows and just about had it worked out enough to suit him. He said that he was going to order some veneers and wanted to know "what" kind of veneers that we would be interested in. I told him that he knew what my riser was built out of, and he also knew what Bryan's riser was comprised of because he had just refinished if for him a few weeks prior. I told him that I would let him pick the veneers and trusted his judgement as to what would look good with my existing riser. Bryan also told him the same.
About a week later, Elmer emailed me and said that he would need both Bryan's and my complete bows......longbow limbs and all so that he could make sure that the fit of both sets of limbs would still be a good fit. We packaged up both of our bows and Bryan insisted that I let him mail mine to Elmer with his (Thanks Bryan) and off they went back to Arkansas.
The bows weren't even in Arkansas for two weeks and Elmer emailed me and said that both the bows would be ready to ship this past Tuesday. To say that we were "elated".......would be a vast understatement. We had them both mailed to Bryan's home, because not only was it cheaper to mail them together, but there was someone available to sign for them more at his house than at mine.
Bryan works 12 hour days Friday through Sunday. After putting in a long day at work yesterday and arriving at home........he immediately gives me a call and wants to know if I wanted to meet him out at the club and "stretch" these new limbs a little bit.
Well........it took me all of about two seconds to say........"Heck Yeah"!!!!
I hurried back home, grabbed my quiver and a handful of arrows and was out at the club in less than an hour after recieving Bryans call. He had just arrived also. He had already unwrapped his limbs and had them attached to his riser, but I was so excited to get mine unwrapped and on my riser that I didn't even notice.
To say that I am happy with the looks of these limbs would be one of the top understatements of all time. They are drop-dead gorgeous !!!!
I put the bow together........checked my brace height, quickly put a crimp on nocking point on at 3/8.......and away we went. The finished length on the bow with the recurve limbs is 60". I draw about 29 1/2" and there was absolutely NO finger pinch or stacking in the limbs what-so-ever. I am sooooooooooooooooo pleased with these limbs. They put an arrow downrange at a very respectable speed and hit the target bags pretty dang hard.
We shot for a little over an hour, stretched the new strings that Elmer sent us with each of our sets of limbs and called it a night. I'm sure with the addition of some silencers, a little wool yarn wrapped around the stringloop end of the strings and they are gonna be quiet as a church mouse. I will also tie on my own nocking point as soon as I'm sure that the string has stretched all that it is going to.
I would like to take this time to personally thank Mr. Elmer Patton for doing this for both myself and my friend Bryan. We are tickled to death with both the craftsmanship, performance and the beauty of these limbs. They are "sister" limbs as the limb veneers all came from one slice right off top of the other. I'm tellin' ya'll, if you haven't ever shot one of Elmers bows.........you owe it to yourself to give them a go. They are not only beautiful creations, but their performance is second to none.
Hat's off to Mr. Elmer Patton........and Thank-You again........kind sir, for building these limbs for us.
Winterhawk1960
Topic: Crow Creek Blackfeather Recurve ??? (Read 592 times)
