After seeing the Green Mountain longbow post from bowyers of the past. I thought I'd show what I think was the best 59 Kodiak copy...Dave Paxton's Talon Swift. Unfortunately Dave has passed away but his bows live on from his longbows to his recurves. I have quite a few of his bows but the Talon Swifts are special. Unfortunate like a lot of my bows the draw weights have been left in my younger days :) tippit
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Since it was a copy the one He made custom for me, I had him inlay a bogus Boeing copper 59 Bear coin...
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Yep. He did make fine bows. Hardly ever see one of his longbows come up for sale.
Beautiful bows!
Very nice , thanks for sharing .
QuoteOriginally posted by Orion:
Yep. He did make fine bows. Hardly ever see one of his longbows come up for sale.
Which is why I JUMPED at the chance last year to snap one up at a low price. It's going moose hunting this fall.
Oh, and the Swift was feeling lonely here. ;)
Nice......my Green Mountain Catamount is now back in Vermont where it was made. Joe VT has it now and I think he is real happy.
Tippit, so right about Dave's bows. I am glad you brought up his name and work. He was a friend of mine and I often had the opportunity to visit his shop. I am a pastor and conducted the simple memorial service for him after his passing out by his bow shop. Simple, as he would have wanted. I owned a Swift, but like you, my age has dictated a drop some in draw weight. That beautiful writing was in Dave's own hand. I still own my Talon Classic longbow and it will stay with me.
David,
I know Dave had two versions of his longbow...was it the Talon and the Talon Classic? I know the second version had a riser that wasn't equal in length at the fades. I appreciate you talking with me a couple of years back about Dave. I still have your PM saved. Thanks...Jeff
Charles,
If your Swift is feeling lonely, you should make a trip South to find it a friend as I am unloading a lot (a real lot) of bows heavier than 40#. Will you be at the White Mountain shoot in August?
Hi Jeff. Sent you a PM.
Yes Jeff, Dave's classic is the one that has the riser longer at one fade than the other. It is offset by 2"--longer on the top of the fade. I would love to find one of his bows in a left handed version at around 45#. Never see them for sale.
Nice bow. I hope I'm wrong...I believe she has a hairline crack?
I am considering a 59 reproduction. Does anyone make a 62" version?
Tedd
David,
I've loved his Talon Classic longbows so much that I've reduced the weights on 4 of them so I can still shoot them. Some I've taken down to 40#...so I guess it's a Talon/Tippit model. They still shoot great!
I sold Dave's Talon bows out of my shop for years. The trim lines of his longbows made for a great shooting bow.
I was the one who talked Dave into making a reproduction of the 1959 Kodiak. Dave used my personal original Kodiak as a model for his Talon Swift.
We lost him too soon.
Ron, I remember when you sent that bow to Dave. I saw it in his shop when he started to work on the recurve.
Hey Ron,
I'm going through stuff around our house as we are trying to down size...ran across a couple of your invoices from 1980!
Jeff,
I have seen pictures of your basement and do believe you are the personification of a "Bow Hoarder". Have they tried scheduling you for the reality show Hoarders yet?
Walt,
You never know when you might need an extra bow :)