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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Matt Green on May 23, 2014, 12:28:00 PM

Title: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Matt Green on May 23, 2014, 12:28:00 PM
I had heard that Jim Brackenbury mentored Wes Wallace and Norm of Blacktail bows. (Wallace named one of his bows the mentor after Brackenbury I've heard).

Am wondering what other mentoring do you know of?
list the mentor and who they trained.
thanks
matt G
  :campfire:
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: K2 on May 23, 2014, 12:52:00 PM
I believe Paul Schafer mentored Dave Windauer.  Ken
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Bjorn on May 23, 2014, 01:25:00 PM
Mike Fedora mentored Dan Toelke if I am not mistaken.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: dhaverstick on May 23, 2014, 01:32:00 PM
Jerry Pierce was a huge influence on a lot of the well-known bowyers of today; Dean Torges and Jim Reynolds come to mind.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: legends1 on May 23, 2014, 03:00:00 PM
Legendary bowyer Tim Miegs was mine.-Mike
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Matt Green on May 23, 2014, 03:28:00 PM
keep em coming.  very intested in this topic.
thx
matt g
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: two4hooking on May 23, 2014, 04:41:00 PM
Howard Hill - John Schulz - David Miller
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Ulysseys on May 23, 2014, 05:34:00 PM
What was the start of Black Widow?
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: beendare on May 23, 2014, 06:01:00 PM
Good topic....

Brings to mind the story the great coach of duke BB Mike Krzyzewski said when asked about his mentoring under the hot tempered Bobby Knight," I learned everything i needed to know about basketball and coaching under Bobby"
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Kris on May 23, 2014, 06:20:00 PM
Quote
What was the start of Black Widow?

"The Wilson Brothers" but I'm sure there are a lot guys on here that can add a lot more then that re: subj.

Here is what The Widow site has:  https://blackwidowbows.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=16
 

Kris
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Walt Francis on May 23, 2014, 06:37:00 PM
Bob Savage taught Paul Schafer.  

Bob Savage was self taught with a lot of long distance correspondence with Fred Bear.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Gator1 on May 23, 2014, 07:21:00 PM
Walt

I'll bet bob savage is a  great guy. I enjoyed the TBM article on
Him...
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Matt Green on May 23, 2014, 10:12:00 PM
very intriguing.  this is our roots.  who else.  some of you other bowyers chime in.
Again - be clear on Who mentored who.
thanks
matt G
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: ron w on May 23, 2014, 10:31:00 PM
QuoteOriginally posted by Gator1:
Walt

I'll bet bob savage is a  great guy. I enjoyed the TBM article on
Him...
That was a good article.......
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Sixby on May 23, 2014, 10:46:00 PM
God has been and still is my mentor and teacher. It just can't get any better than that.
Bro. Kirk and I share a lot of info but we were both building bows before we met.

God bless, Steve
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Matt Green on May 24, 2014, 10:22:00 PM
I'd like to bump this one again.  Gotta be some more who could chime in.
thanks
mg
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: cmh on May 24, 2014, 10:34:00 PM
QuoteOriginally posted by Sixby:
God has been and still is my mentor and teacher. It just can't get any better than that.
Bro. Kirk and I share a lot of info but we were both building bows before we met.

God bless, Steve
Perhaps the finest mentor of all.... God bless  ;)
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Frisky on May 26, 2014, 01:43:00 AM
Actually, Bob Savage was mentored by Jack Whitney who Bob said was years ahead of Bear and the others. He did correspond with Fred and Jack Howard and Harry Drake and others.

Joe
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: kerry hardy on May 26, 2014, 02:14:00 PM
George Birnie, the Scottish bowyer who worked here for Eddings, Tex-Tox, Adirondack, and Ben Pearson, was an apprentice to Richard Galloway in Scotland-- who was himself the last royal bowyer to the king of England. So if you have a Birnie bow, there's about eight centuries of handed-down bowmaking knowledge represented there.

Kerry
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: damascusdave on May 26, 2014, 05:14:00 PM
Dave Windauer includes quite a bit of information about Paul Schafer on his Silvertip website...when I spoke with Dave on the phone a while back he realized that he had been building Silvertip bows for longer than Paul did...I am pretty sure that Jack Kempf has shared his experience and ideas with more than one bowyer here is Alberta...I know Bert Frelink of Quartermoon Bows mentions Jack's assistance on his website

DDave
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: damascusdave on May 26, 2014, 05:26:00 PM
We should not forget a number of bowyers who mentored their children and spouses to do all or some of the work...Dick Robertson comes quickly to mind although I am sure there are others

DDave
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: hardbern on May 27, 2014, 07:58:00 AM
QuoteOriginally posted by kerry hardy:
George Birnie, the Scottish bowyer who worked here for Eddings, Tex-Tox, Adirondack, and Ben Pearson, was an apprentice to Richard Galloway in Scotland-- who was himself the last royal bowyer to the king of England. So if you have a Birnie bow, there's about eight centuries of handed-down bowmaking knowledge represented there.

Kerry
Well actually he (Richard "Dick" Galloway)was bowyer to the Royal Company of Archers the monarch's (ceremonial) bodyguard when in Scotland, but so were the later inheritors of Dick & George's legacy: Border Archery (under Robin Robeson).
Returning to the thread of who mentored/influenced who - there was much cross fertilisation taking place. Dick & Howard Hill met & Dick made him a bow (both being on the movie circuit). Crescenzo Forte who worked with Dick - emigrated to US & worked at American Archery (Amarco). Dick & his main UK rival/comtemporary Frank Bilson with his Yeoman (also  known as Jack the Yeoman) company were the first in the UK to produce glass-backed bows ('52)
Russell Willcox was I believe a vistor to the UK &  another UK bowyer was making bows from his duo-flex design.
Who did George meet/know in the US? Look at his limb designs: "coordinator" section later to be called "hyper-kinetic" at Ben Pearson & earlier concave-convex designs at TexTox....now accredited to Bill Stewart and/or patented by O.L.ADcock.
Who shared with who? You don't have to have served an apprenticeship to learn from them - open & receptive minds is all it takes.
Robert Elmer was back & forward across the pond facilitating sharing, so were various flight bow designer, makers, shooters. Most of the UK names: Dick, Frank from the early days were into flight bows. Roy King one of foremost longbowyers the same.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: V I Archer on May 27, 2014, 01:53:00 PM
Byron Schurg of Monarch and later Aspen longbows mentored the late Monty Moravec.  I could be mistaken but I think Neil Jacobson of Bear's Paw fell under the tutelage of Mr. Schurg as well.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: kerry hardy on May 27, 2014, 11:02:00 PM
Hardbern,
Am I right in thinking that the guy who makes those incredibly thin longbows in the UK--is his name Boyton?-- also worked with/learned from Galloway?
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: cahaba on May 28, 2014, 01:05:00 AM
Interesting and great info. I was talking to James Berry and he said he learned from trial and error on his own. A great accomplishment given the quality bows he builds.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Mike Mecredy on May 28, 2014, 11:40:00 AM
* Due to the adjective in the thread title I wasn't going to enter this discussion, but I see there's a few that want more input*

To start, I have to recognize the God given talent of being about to "make it if I don't want to buy it", "Fix it if I don't want to replace it". God made me a mechanic.  

I have been influenced by so many, A few times I had O.L. Adcock call me up and correct me on my theories on bow length and arrow speed, he also advised me a few times on customer service; "some" of it I to heart, the rest I reserve for "difficult customers" and I've had next to none of those.  As for bow construction, bow builders on the forums.  I started making bows in 2001, and did it as a hobby for 5 years, all the while reading posts on the various archery forums, and took lots of good advice from lots of talented craftsmen.  I read "Traditonal Bowyers of America" By Dan Bertalan, and took all of their methods and procedures to heart, but one in particular was M.R. Hamilton and what he had to say about fadeouts. I still visit the bowyer's bench and I may not post all that much there I still search it for tricks and tips.  And most importantly I get feed back from my customers.  While most couldn't advise me on the proper taper rate of my lams, they advise me on the most important parts; How they feel, how they shoot, how they sound, and how they look.  Knowing I've never done perfect work, knowing there's always room for improvement, during phone conversations, I'll take a subtle approach to get it out of them how I can make it better.  Honestly, that's the best mentoring I can get.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: hardbern on May 24, 2016, 10:58:00 AM
QuoteOriginally posted by kerry hardy:
Hardbern,
Am I right in thinking that the guy who makes those incredibly thin longbows in the UK--is his name Boyton?-- also worked with/learned from Galloway?
Only took me 2 years to reply, just spotted how to get email notifications when threads updated ;-)
....anyway, yes i think you're talking about Chris Boyton, but he himself will tell you he was just a friend of Dick's - albeit all part of the group of people making & shooting bows together back in the day.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: LC on May 24, 2016, 10:17:00 PM
For me it was Bingham's. They got me inspired to be able to make roll my own. Then I started designing making my own by copying bows I liked with features I wanted. Been building my own for about 15 years now. I've never sold a bow and kinda done with it now. I've got enough bows to last me till the end. My favorite design is to copy a 62 Kodiak with  tweeks! Man I love that bow.
After rereading the thread title I don't consider myself a great bowyer so I guess my fall back is Fred Bear!
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: fling on May 25, 2016, 03:47:00 PM
I believe Jim Rempp mentored Dan Toelke.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: wingnut on May 25, 2016, 04:07:00 PM
Jason and I had a number of mentors.
Beginning with Rusty Craine, then Dean Torges, J.D. Jones and Mark Horne.

Along the way we worked with OL Adcock and John Havard.

Brent Rudolph helped us with the curves.

The aggregate is really the base we built on.

Mike
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: schlaggerman on May 26, 2016, 05:34:00 PM
Mike Steliga of Bruin Bows was mentored and taught by Bill Pyle of Staghorn Bows. In fact I believe Mike introduced a Bill Pyle commemorative bow a few years back.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: John Kelly on May 27, 2016, 03:12:00 PM
Harold Groves and a bunch of the guys he mentored.
Title: Re: who mentored the great bowyers?
Post by: Roadkill on May 29, 2016, 10:46:00 PM
Mike, spoken from the heart.  Thanks

I was interested in any patents on bows or processes.  Seems like they would help Light the path. Many of the things are techniques, and in ancient days probably not as easily granted patents