Saxon Bows/ Randy Dehnel

[Lamey]

I occasionally see Saxon bows,  made by Randy Dehnel (sp?), for sale and on the big auction site.  They are very good looking bows,  a few little touches that I really like.

He made a "Selkirk" recurve that is one of the better looking 50's style recurves out there.  I also really liked the "American" Longbow,  which was a very simple, clean, classic mildly r/d longbow.

My question for you that have been around is this,   is Randy currently making bows  or have plans on getting back into making them?

Also any experience you have with his work would be appreciated.  Im looking at a couple on the auction site now.

[Stickbow]

That name is a blast from the past.
 I used to see him at shoots years ago. Havent seen or heard of him in a long time.

[Lee Robinson .]

I am a longbow guy myself, but I found his line of American series recurves to perform excellent. They always felt real stable, were easy to tune, and were very quiet. I think those bows were some of the absolute best values on the market, and today when I see them for sale they are often just as expensive used as they were new. I didn't like his longbows as much as his recurves though to be honest. The craftsmanship was of course good, but I thought his American series recurve was simply a better bow.

[Tater 2]

I was a dealer for Randy's bows for a couple of years, when I had a small Trad shop.

    He is an excellent bowyer and person. His signature line of Saxon "Hawk" bows be they recurve or longbow are exceptional. They shoot as good as they look. The other models the "American" or "Selkirk" are also solid preformers well made,and dependable.

[Lamey]

thanks fellas,   figured I would get some good info.  Looking forward to eventually owning one.

[Flinttim]

Randy's website
 http://www.saxonarchery.com
I have one of his longbows right now and had a Kadiak Recurve for a while. Can't say enough about his bows. Great.

[Sixby]

I have owned about every bow made at one time or another except for some of the newer bowyers. Randys bows are one of the top three in my mind for just a great bow at a decent price. I rate them right with my beloved Sentmans and Robertsons. They are light, solid and graceful,. Shoot like the wind and are smooth in every aspect. Not pretty, not fancy but a great bow non the less. God Bless you, Steve

[Bill Turner]

I owned a Saxon American made by Randy. Great bow, that I sold to another TradGang member. Last I heard, Randy had put bow-building aside, and moved home to care for his ailing parents. Also heard that he was going to try to get back into bow building sometime in the future. Maybe the future is now. Hope so, he built a good bow at a competitive price.

[Moooseran]

My first custom bow is the Saxon Signature Hawk I bought back in 1998. Best looking bow then and now. Limbs are Black locust on the back and Osage on the front or maybe the other way around. When I bought the bow Randy said it had a $100.00 of "Pretty"in it...............

[tradlongbow]

Randy's business was doing excellent for many years. When I  talked to him last year he told me that he was moving to Washington to help his parents. His hawk was the top of the line bow, then it was the mongoose longbow or the selkirk recurve, then it was the American model. The America model was sold    In cabelas catalog at one time. His bows or absolutely beautiful, a great bowyer.                                                                  Darren

[Lamey]

I sure wish him and his family well, and hope he can get back to bow building if he chooses.  

I really like the simpler lines and construction method of the American longbow over the more expensive models.  

And while I swore off recurves,  Ide sure like to find the right Selkirk.

[Mudd]

Hmmmm!!  Dang it, now here's another bow that I haven't tried.... yet!!!!!....lol

God bless,Mudd

[JRY309]

I have had a couple of Saxon American longbows,great shootin bow,excellent workmanship and smooth shooting bows.Wish I still had one of them!

[loneviking]

And if anybody is really interested, there's a Saxon Mongoose up for sale on everybodys' favorite auction site.  Has a price of only $275 on it and nine hours to go.

[Tajue17]

yeah I seen that goose and why its not gone with a nice draw weight like that is beyond my reign of thinking..

as for Randy I met him a few times and shot with him a few times and I owned maybe 6-8 of his bows and people above are right that you will not go wrong with a saxon,,   Randy ground his own lams on some homemade lam grinder I remember that did a awesome job.      his Hawks where among the best out there and he had a guy making a special T/D sleeve for his hawks so it would keep the original grip shape but something happened with the sleeve maker and then that guy wasn't doing it anymore and nobody would make them because they where shaped wierd (like a fatter mongolian grip) so he couldn't make the hawks in T/D anymore which is what I (and alot of other folks wanter) wanted so I got something else..  

 for those of you who didn't know Randy made the Le Clair Shrews too at first and when someone else started doing it which I think was John who makes the griffen Randy started making his own version called the "Shrike" which was just as nice as Rons except the grip wasn't that unique shrew grip Ron LeClair is also famous for...  

I do think Randy is still making bows but only for 1 dealer (maybe some others) located here   www.oldbow.com  if you call the number on that website and ask for Zan or Eric they will know exactly whats happening with Randy and his bows and they have many that are brandnew on the rack right now.

[Flinttim]

The thing I really liked about Randy's longbows was his ability to make the narrower but deeper limbs. That IMO takes some keen ability.

[Swiftspeed10]

I think his bows used to be quite famous, I remember seeing a saxon hawk colored ad in a hunting magazine like 6 years ago.  Always a very stunning looking bow.

[BillW]

I guess I am the odd man here. I would never deal with this guy again and just can't let a TG brother make a big investment without hearing my experience. The 2 bows he made for me were flawed and I found his personality lacking to say the least.... My experience, but I took pictures if anyone ever doubted my side. I normally would not say anything except years ago I started a thread JUST like this looking for a 59 replica. So many guys told me how great the Saxon was so thats the way I chose... Now I feel compelled to let anyone thinking about it to just know Randy does not have a perfect track record. Maybe he went through a bad time and was very good years ago and I had bad timing.......

Just FYI for anyone that is interested. Let the buyer beware.

Regards,
Bill Wright

[Tajue17]

yup Bill is right on the "bad time",, I heard before he really put the bow buisness to rest things where happening and people where indeed upset and bows where getting sent back. I heard some things but they are family matters not needing to be mentioned here but I'm not sure what happened with the shop at the end.

[Lee Robinson .]

Bill, sorry to hear your story. I heard similar stories in his final year or so. Over the years, we did send a few back upon my inspection that never made it to my inventory rack. Those situations were not very common and while he may not have had the most outgoing personality, he did take care of those situations for me without any reservations. Of course, I bought a several dozen bows from him over the years back when we had our shop. I never did hold one of his hawks series bows or one of his 59 replicas. The hawk always intrigued me, but back then they had a pretty good price tag on them...and beyond my pocket book for an inventory (non-custom) bow.

Hopefully if Randy returns to the archery world, he will be renewed in spirit and be able to serve everyone as well as he served us.