recent sign up here...I appreciate the forum you have going on here very much...I dont see a "new guy" area...so here it is...I dont make bows anymore except for myself or Son...but really enjoy the area devoted to it "bowyers bench"...a lot of fun stuff going on there...
I have been involved in this wonderful pursuit since I was a young boy...my first time with a bow in my hand was with my Fathers help...his bows were way to big for me. He was shooting a lemon wood long bow he got from Herters back in the late 50's...I remember the day he drew it back and it snapped...time to get himself a Fred Bear...I think he got a grizzly...and some "micro flites" pretty high tech for us back then...
As far as me getting my chance, he found a small shop that had some "kid" bows available...I remember the guy at the shop said "come on outside", he had a few bales of straw set up. with a deer target pinned on them...he even made it more cool for a 6 year old and blew up a ballon and challenged me to hit it...
that was 1960...I remember hitting that first balloon like it was yesterday. We went back in his little shop and all I can remember is the smell of Bees Wax, cedar and straw...I remember my Dad promising that some day soon we would get a bow like that for me...
eventually He kept that promise with a really cool "Locksely" fiberglass bow...a bit stronger than I could really handle, but mine none the less. I would " root " behind all the archery targets after the range shut down where my Dad would shoot several evenings a week afer supper to see if I could find arrows...things were tight back then...and finding arrows was all good by me. I had quite a collection...I even had a 4 fletch aluminum arrow...something quite rare in those days...it was my prized possesion.
I later got a 43# Cravotta Brothers bow...still a bit big for me, but I grew into it...even killed a deer with it...
now many years later after having an archery shop for a while 20 years ago, and being pretty dedicated to tradional bowhunting for a long time, I find myself remembering the smell of that Bees Wax, cedar and straw...I do and make other things now, but those days of breaking balloons still remain pretty special...all the best...t
Topic: cedar, bees wax& straw... (Read 169 times)
