i saw the howzit, and knew exactly where that came from :D
i am originally from Weenen, in KZN- we have been living here for 7 years now!
welcome aboard.
Bruce, i also went down the whole 'progressive regression' path . guiding in the bushveldt, then turning to compound, then to percussion muzzle loaders, and finally to trad archery, and i must say once i got to trad - i hit a wall- there seems so little knowledge, or at the very least a huge reluctance to share knowledge. i got over here, discovered Trad Gang- and that was a huge game changer for me-i met a lot of great people, some in person. i struggled with my release for years-got that sorted out on here.
got all the help i needed with starting out at building my own bows, and there are "real archery shops" over here- i could get all sorts of supplies right over the counter!!!
but there are a few trad guys that are around over there
Derek Norse, from norseman archery, on the south coast has a lot of stuff, there is also a guy from limpopo- check him out on the african chapter of this forum. there is PeeZee as well, and i think tradtusker too, and probably a few others that i am missing.
i will be coming out again soon, and would love to meet up with you there- maybe do some hunting- got some great friends and contacts in namibia- so might just also head over there for a month and hunt hard.
that is probably the only advantage of having a safa passport, not having to pay the exorbitant rates these other poor folk have to pay :D . but that being said, i have always refused to pay for hunting in sa, always had lots of places to hunt. like the nam trip, i wont be paying anything, or maybe at the very least a very nominal sum- the one and only advantage maybe!!
if and when i do come over i could bring you things that you need, or at the very least ship some stuff over to you.
if you are interested in building your own wooden bows, there are some pretty good bow woods there- there is some osage there, white stinkwood, all the fruit/nut trees- pecan nut, apple, mulberry etc etc.
i could even send you some wood if need be. there is a strong safa medical community here in canada- and maybe could even try and get a pair of billets over to you, when they travel home( no i am not a quack- into the construction sector).
and for building glass bows, it doesnt really matter- but some beautiful red ivory, and wild olive especially will make beautiful veneers under clear glass.
building a one piece glass bow( recurve or longbow), is the quickest and easiest way to get a great shooter, building wooden bows is a greater skill- in some respects, takes more patience and verges on a "lot of feel" type skills- that take a little time to learn.
glass bows take a higher investment in set up and material costs, wooden bows take a greater investment in time and skill.
i love to build and shoot both.
fire any questions you have right back here, lots of great folk to help out!!
also check out the bowyers bench chapter on here- if you are keen on the building etc!
cheers
wayne
Topic: howzit (Read 449 times)
