This tale begins way back in the mists of time ,well, January of this year (I remember it being fairly misty, actually)

I was on the hunt for a Shrew Classic Hunter, after selling mine & instantly regretting it. After a few weeks of searching high & low & placing several 'Want' ads, I received a reply from 7-Eyes; real name, Troy Hedland.

Now, Troy is a hobby bowyer & I mean no insult when I say 'Hobby' He is a woodcrafter by day, but by night he dons his apron (cape?) & dustmask (to disguise his identity perhaps?) & speeds forth to his workshop to craft bows.
Troy mentioned to me that he builds an approximation of the Classic Hunter, in both a 1 & 2-piece model, fo a very reasonable price. We immediately cut a deal for a simple, all black actionwood, black glass, take-down model (oooooooohhhh! Stealthy!) to be collected when I visited Texas, 3 weeks later.

Days rolled by & Troy ('T') was constantly in touch, letting me know how work was progressing, asking if everything was as I had envisioned it to be & EMailing me lots of very detailed pictures. He was very accomodating to my requests, modelling the grip to my exact specifications & installing a Bow-Bolt. Basically, he sent me pictures at every step of the build just to check that everyting was as I wished it to be. It was.

Roll on to February (3 weeks later) & I arrive at Woody Blackwell's house in San Antonio, headed for the Pig Gig.....I unwrapped & assembled the 56" 60# bow, adjusted nock & brace height & set to, flinging arrows with my new tack-driver.
All through the 'Gig, the bow performed faultlessly (Unfortunately I didn't & became a member off the Missunder Society, numerous times)

Back in England, the bow continued to be a joy. I added a set of diamond back skins (My first) & shot the bow day in, day out to the exclusion of all my other, far more expensive, high-end bows. I LOVED this bow.

Fast forward a couple of months to June. I had arrived in Tennessee & was still enjoying shooting my little Stealthbow......BANG!!!!!

ouch


*expletive deleted*


The bow bolt (through a combination of my 30" draw & a 60# bow) tore clean through the upper half of the riser, leaving me with a lovely purple/yellow bruise accross my ribs & a goose egg on m' forehead. This alone would have been a shock to the system, but a week previously the exact same thing happened to another short longbow.

I contacted Troy to enquire whether he plced a warranty on his work, totally expecting him to tell me that he only builds bows as a hobby & that he made no provision for any warranty. I would not have been at all upset if this were the case, many small, part time craftsmen work in this way. However, Troy didn't hesitate in telling me he offered a full guarentee & to return the bow for inspection, which I duly did.

"Yep" said 'T' "That's definately broken. What would you like as a replacement?"
I asked for the same thing, but this time as a 1 piece & longer please as I couldn't bring myself to draw a short bow any more (In fact, I'm still strugging, somewhat, to draw any bow past about 28". I'm getting a lot better now, though)

We EMailed back & forth for a few days, just to be 100% sure what I wanted. I asked for an exotic lamination this time & 'T' also suggested a phenolic 'I' beam in the riser as this would strengthen the bow & also dampen down the harmonics of the carbon he was puttng in the limbs!

He never metioned anything about the riser, other than inquiring whether I'd like the grip any different to the first model.

Yesterday, I received a Priority Parcel from USPS, with this inside........

As giddy as a six year old with a $1000 voucher to the candy store, I began looking over Troy's flawless woodcraft. The purpleheart & phenolic riser is faultless. Not a lump, bump or transition to be felt between it & the Zebrano overlays. The textured leather grip-wrapping fell perfectly into my hand, as warm & familiar as a handshake from an old, dear friend.

Stringing the bow, I ran my hands up & down the length of the Wenge laminated, bamboo & carbon cored limbs & marvelled at the delicacy of the phenolic tips.

The Purple Heart, as inscribed on the edge of the trap'ed lower limb, is a 60" wonder. Pulling an insanely smooth 62# straight back to 30" with neither twitch nor hesitation on my (or her) part. I have never, ever drawn a bow this smooth before. The short riser & long working limb make for a wonderful combination & the carbon puts a lot of pace into the released arrow.
I don't have a chrono handy, but it's shooting a 682gn arrow into the exact same group as my Bob Lee recurve (which I know chrono's the same arrow at 182fps) with no conscious change in my aim point, such as it is.

All in all, if you're looking for a VERY high quality bow, without wishing to re-finance your house, you could do a LOT worse than to give Mr. Tro Hedland (7-Eyes) a holler. Troy is a stand up guy, who obviously loves what he does. Attention to detail & customer satisfaction are vying for top-spot in the things he aims to achieve & achieve them he certainly has.

Troy, 'T', you have my heartfelt thanks & I cannot praise you highly enough.

Now, gratuitous bow pictures    

PUUUURRRRDDDDEEEE!!

That other short longbow didn't happen to come from Ohio did it?    ?     ?

That is surtenly a looker you got there:-)

Very nice buddy!  But your sites are off a little    

QuoteOriginally posted by 4runr:
PUUUURRRRDDDDEEEE!!

That other short longbow didn't happen to come from Ohio did it?    ?     ?

:D  No, that 'uns still going strong. I hope you don't mind Kenny, but I donated it to a youngster over here. His Dad is a regular at the kennels (well, his Dad's dog is) & he'd seen me shooting in the backyard. He was really taken with what a longbow could do, in comparison to his compound, so I've taken it upon myself to edumacate him.

QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Very nice buddy!  But your sites are off a little      

Dadgum crosswinds       :D

very very nice!

Nice looking bow and good shooting buddy.

Awesome bow, looks like she's a shooter as well!

Great looking bow...good shootin'      

Mind? Heck no Bro! That's what she's for. She was given to me, I passed her on, now someone else has the use of her.

Well done bud!

That bow may be too purty fer you, Rob:cool: Sorry to hear the little black job blew up but this here is a looker. Looks like you shoot it okay,too. I'll drop you a PM-we need to get together. Grant

Very nice looking bow.

       

Thank you Rob, for the kudos.

Your writing, apart from a little proof reading, Is reminiscent of the likes of Bernard Cornwell and Gary Jennings.  

WOW! This is exactly why I can't stop buying bows!

QuoteOriginally posted by 7eyes:
Thank you Rob, for the kudos.

Your writing, apart from a little proof reading, Is reminiscent of the likes of Bernard Cornwell and Gary Jennings.      

He he!

I've never bin able to spel proper England sinse I was a Children!

really is a beauty

7eyes...praise like that is high from Rob he has owned and shot about everything out there, he knows his bows and can shoot the nuts of a fast moving baboon. Beautiful bow    

gotta be careful writing like that Rob dont wanna give these guys the impression your fairly well spoken... for a Redneck     :D    

hope your doing well bro
ill give you a call tomorrow