Aloha guys and Gals,just ordered a Wesley Speacial 64" 55# @27" Black Glass back and belly Bocote tips and Riser.4 weeks out and I cant wait.........Ordered from Craig,What do all of you do to control the anticipation?Besides look at the Bows on his site?Im at a loss for words..See ya and Straight Shootin. :bigsmyl:
Make sure you post some pics when you get it. I just love looking at eveyones Hill (or Hill style) bows. I can only imagine how the wait is killing you, but 4 weeks is really good compared to a lot of other bowyers. Hope you enjoy it.
Read Craig's book or other Howard Hill books. That will really fire you up.
Pics when you get it!
Get yourself a plane ticket to the midwest.
The temps here will get your mind off of anything but figuring out how to stay warm...lol
Personally I feel better just reading your thread, it made me think of my time in Hawaii.
The warmth, the sand, and a beautiful mountain stream that I drove a rental car up as far as I could make it go without wrecking or seriously breaking something.( A very young soldier will try anything, no matter how stupid is sounds now!)...lol
I feel warmer already!!...lol
I second getting pictures posted when it arrives.
God bless,Mudd
Yes pictures when it shows up.I cant wait for mine also waiting stinks.
good howard hill stoke - "hunting the hard way" and craig's book on howard.
Given Craig's ability to produce bows and keep to his delivery time, you won't have long to wait. Compared to some bowyer's delivery time, you could almost hold your breath till your new Wesley is delivered. :bigsmyl:
Patience, patience, patience........
Hillbros (longbowben too), rummage around online at howardhilllongbowmen.com or something to that effect. Great history of the bows themselves plus personal comments from longtime Hill shooters. Plenty here too. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have for these past 33 years. Pix please. Welcome.
The last bow I ordered from hill in Nov took less than a month! Crazy
Stratera thanks i have been on that site for about 2 weeks.Mine is a used bow coming from australia should be here soon.But im not allowed to touch it untill Christmas .
I suggest spending some quality time making several batches of tricked-out arrows to feed to your new Hill when it arrives. It's going to be hungry after that long flight!
And no new bow should go without a brand-new quiver.
Between making the arrows and stitching up a new quiver, the time will fly by and before you know it you'll be holding a bow-mailing tube from Montana in your hands.
YOU LUCKY DOG!
Oops, you snuck a post int here while I was typing.
I guess I should have said "Bow-mailing tube from Australia."
If the bow is from Australia, I'll bet it's already trained to kill.
Rik, your right on the money brother ! The Wesley special Ben is getting is a lil' hog machine ! A great bow that Ben will have to post pics of with .... standing next to a freezer full of fresh whitetail steaks...
Lonola...pics when it gets here mate !
Congrats on the new bow.
Well, I am used to hurry up and wait. So when I ordered mine a couple weeks ago and was told I should have it before Christmas I was shocked. That is great turn around time. Only a couple more weeks.
But in the meantime I just got word my South Cox recurve was shipped this past Friday.
So in the mean time I have been hunting and dreaming.
Life is good!
Earl
Yeah, I do have a soft spot in my heart for Wesley Specials! Sometimes delivery time can be as little as two or three weeks, even to Australia!
Here're some pictures of mine:
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Gear/WesleySpecialCloseandUnstrung005.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Gear/WesleySpecialCloseandUnstrung008.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/NewBackQuiver005-Copy.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/FirstStumpShootof2010012.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/FirstStumpShootof2010020.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/IMG_0292.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/Archery%20Practice/IMG_0278-Copy.jpg)
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l164/b_kleinig/IMG_0606.jpg)
Very nice!!!!!!
Aloha everyone and thanks for the tips on passing time,I got boo arrows waiting for the wesley made a Bamboo quiver out of a 3 in. piece of bamboo from the rain forest here on the island.And yes I will post pics of my new family member.Got an idea why dont ya all come to Hawaii and have a Howard Hill Bow party.weather is great 80degrees sunny water is nice and blue about 72degrees.We have snow on Mauna Kea 13000 ft.Can ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon and Hunt all day long if you want.Im on the Big Island and the volcano is erupting here.Good place to hang out.Well boys keep um strung or keep um hung catch ya later See Ya Ron
Hey nice Hill and Great hog Mate...See Ya Mate.Aloha Ron
Congrats Lonala and Longbowben... i like the idea of making a new quiver while you wait. Gotta help pass the time.
I'm on the wait train myself. Craig said he is going to start my Robin Hood this week. First new Hill for me since I started building two years ago. I'm passing the time rebuilding an old form that has a reflex Hill on one side and a string follow Hill on the other. Hope to be pulling a layup off of it about the end of this week, maybe early the next. Going to go for a totally bamboo bow... natural bamboo back and belly with two lamboo cores and laminated bamboo riser, clear glass. Finishing that off ought to get me through till the new Robin Hood gets here.
I'm in the waiting business also. But for whatever reason I'm cool with it this time. Maybe it's because I know that there may be a few ahead of me but with each one built my number gets closer.
My "Robin Hood" will be number 21, 68" 48@28 with a straight wedge shaped handle.(How cool is that?)
I loved everything you had to say about your fine state except the volcano thing..lol
God bless,Mudd
Dick make sure we see it when your done.Im just a little excited i have never shot a hill before.
I'm excited for you LBBen & Lan. I'm a Hill (style) freak w/5 Hills incl a beautiful Wesley. Soon as Ben K. ain't looking I'm gonna snatch his. Majestic 70" & 75# bow w/light glass front & back. Mine is dark glass. That's Dick's website guess you know (HHLBmen). This ain't his first rodeo either.
Mudd its not that bad just make sure you own a canoe...Im excited to longbowben never shot one either.I know im going to have a hard time peeling the grin off my face,lying in bed at full draw glove on and whole nine yards.Aloha guys Ron
Forgot to congats on all the new Hills being built for everyone...Robin Hoods are awesome beautiful....Are you guys going to hunt the Robin Hoods or just Hang um.And thanks to Mr.Craig Ekin for blessing us with his talent,hard work,and wisdow given to him by our Lord and savior. Turning these bows out for everyone, we are all definitely Blessed.Not to mention one heck of a nice guy.Aloha Everyone,Ron
Dick in SEattle,LIke your plans,I love my string Follow Bow dead Quiet,smooth dead in the hand.I was looking at the straight Limb Hills but cant get away from those String Follow Bows may be a bit slower but if its quiet dont need the speed.He will know its there when the 600 plus grain arrow goes crashing through is shoulder blades.My brother Rick built my boo osage Follow Bow now Im hooked on those things.Aloha Dick.
Any rough figures on performance difference between comparible Hill bows if one is string-follow?
Ben, I ask Craig(HH Archery) that very question and his answer was "It's minimal".
I figure he should know and took him at his word.
God bless,Mudd
Ben Craig told me Bamboo is the best performing for Lams and 5 lams would be the smoothest and best performing.So I ordered the Wesley,like Mudd said he should know so I left it at that,On Craigs website he says 115 ft per second PLus Poundage of Bow so Im hoping for 170ft per second .Depending on arrow wieght and length of draw.Aloha Ron
String Follow and Reflex in Hill Styles
Current production Hllls have very minimal string follow or reflex, just enough to know it's there... unless you specify otherwise. As Craig says, it's not really that distinctive feeling in the shooting. I think the Robin Hood will have quite a noticeable amount more string follow.
Years back, Hills came with much more pronounced reflex or string follow. The old form I'm working on is in that style.
(http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h186/CaptainDick/bp189.jpg)
Here is a shot of an old, pretty severely reflexed Hill bow (very much like Howard's bow that I plan to build a form for and the form I'm working on right now) and my own first bow, which is a pretty strongly string follow. Now on these bows, you would definitely appreciate the differences in feel between reflexed, straight and string follow. The reflexed is going to be faster by about 5 fps, maybe a bit more, but will have a clearly stiffer pull vs. another bow of the same rated draw weight, because more stress is front loaded into the draw. It is probably also going to be felt more in the hand. The string follow will be slower but will be much smoother and easier drawing, more dead in the hand and less reactive to every break in form.
When I started building my own bows, I made a very conscious decision to build flat, on the theory that if both reflexed and string follow had avid fans and good points, going right in between couldn't be all bad! :^) That's worked out well for me. I'm pleased with my straight bows, but it's time to experiment more, so I've done a light weight reflexed ("Raven"... kind of awesome, really) and the Forward Scouts, which are still straight but shoot like string follows because of the severe forward riser, which moves the hand center forward of the limb tips just like string follow does. Two bows out I plan a reflexed Scout and I'm really looking forward to that, seeing if combining the string follow effect of the forward riser with some reflex can leave you with the best of both styles.
nice dick id love to shoot one of those very nice thanks for showing,ron
Lonala.... thought of something else to share. you mentioned that if the bow was quiet, speed wasn't so important. I approach it from a slightly different basis. If you can't get close enough that speed isn't that important, you shouldn't shoot! Good game distance is 8 to 15 yards.
I have a friend who is an old archer and an old bear hunting guide. This guy's gotten bear just about every year since Lewis and Clark came out here. We were talking about today's emphasis on speed a few weeks ago and he was saying that they all shot slow bows back in the day, throwing really heavy arrows..."Hell, we'd run alongside and push the branches out of the way so they wouldn't be deflected!" He also said that the bows weren't so much for performance but the arrows still went through the bears. :^) He's a hoot, but his point is good.
Good stuff, Dick and Mudd. Thanks!
Ben , I don't notice any real difference in speed between my string folows and my reflexed Hill style bows ... i do notice that they are 'gentler ' in the hand and a tad more forgiving .
I'd drop two inches in length but you'll find its will be a sweet shooting bow...
Bring on the No 13# Robin Hood left hand to Oz !
Dick thats my theory to buddy,I shoot pigs from 3 to 15 yards I like to get in there close.Thats my zone still hunt ambush at close ranges Stealth mode buddy,So close they may hear my heart thumpin..Camo with leafy wear,cant believe how close those animals come in on ya its worth the money.Thats why I gave up the Wheels and half the speed for the excitement,Challenge and satisfaction of doin it the hard way the only way God bless you all talk to you Soon Ron