A big thank you to Dan Bonner for my truly custom bow!!!

[duck'n]

This is a long overdue thank you to Dan Bonner along with some braggin pics!!!  A while back, Mr. Bonner contacted me here on TG after seeing a post where I discussed Texas Ebony.  This tree is native to my area (Lower Rio Grande Valley) and every now and then I would come across some.  Well, him being a bowyer, he was obviously interested so I set about trying to find him some in hopes that I could trade the raw materials for a "finished product".  I did in fact locate some trees that needed pruning at my in-laws house so we began planning.  I got as many good limbs as I could cut and sealed.  Next I had to get them to him.  The density and therefore, weight of this wood is something else.  This made for a slight dilemna as Dan lives some 5 hours away.  I had a friend take the limbs back to Brenham after a visit and it just so happens that Dan's partner comes through there weekly so we solved that problem.

Once Dan was able to inspect the wood, he called me and gave me the great news that he would have no problem setting aside enough to build me a riser...he would supply the rest.  Over the course of our conversation, I had a revelation.  How about an all-Texas bow?  Dan started working on it and I started day dreaming.  Back and forth the PM's went over the next year while the wood was drying.  I had a box of antlers I had collected and I sent those along.  All of them had come from here in my home state.  A gracious friend on another site gave me a matched pair of Texas diamondback snake skins, which I sent along.  Thankfully Dan chose NOT to use them as you will see in the pics below.  I started rounding up snakes myself, although I was not too successful.

Dan next informed me that his longbow form was broken.  I consider myself primarily a longbow guy but I love shooting trad bows.  It didn't take much persuading to change my mind and opt for one of his new recurve designs.  He had been VERY happy with them as were his buddies that had shot them.  SOLD!

Now along comes February, which just so happens to be my birthday month, and I get THE PM from Mr. Bonner...the bow is ready and I will get it to you as soon as I can.  At that time Dan posted some pics on here, which some of you may have seen.  While good, they can in no way reflect the beauty of this bow.  When it showed up, my wife and I were in awe.  Dan had gone with the Tx Ebony for the riser.  The limbs are maple core (may be the only part not from Texas) with stunning cedar lams from the hill country...my favorite part of the state and where I cut my teeth on hunting and bowhunting.  All of this is accented with osage from the eastern portion of the state and topped off with a set of antler burr limb bolts from the sheds I provided.  What a bow.  I took some more pics but they pale in comparison to the actual bow in hand.  I did try to capture the beauty of the cedar limb lams in the sunlight.  Now you will see why I am glad he didn't skin the limbs!!!

Finally, a HUGE thank you to Dan Bonner.  You are a craftsman and an artist.  I hope the materials have served you well and allowed you to craft several more risers for others.  If there is anything I can ever do, please let me know.

[duck'n]

Oh and the specs are 60" AMO and 53#@28", which is EXACTLY what I requested!!!  Below is the link to Dan's post with a little of his story and more about the making of this bow.

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=069628

[bohuntr]

WOW that thing is just gorgeous!!!  

[Son of Texas]

That's a pretty bow for sure.    And the craftsman ship looks outstanding    
Congrats!!!

[mwmwmb]

WOW those cedar limbs are swwwwwweeeeeeeeet

[Horne Shooter]

Bonner is quite a bowyer for someone who's only been building bows for a couple of years.  He's building his first aluminum riser (from scratch) right now and I can't wait to see and shoot it.  Hopefully he'll post some pictures here when he's done.

[Wannabe1]

Beautiful limbs on that bow! Congrats.  

[Hornseeker]

I also have the honor of calling one of them little gems "mine"... LOVE IT... the other day I introduced it to my best buddy hunting/shooting partner and he immediately fell in love with it...

I can also say that I had Dan rough me out one of them new aluminum risers... and will finish it up myself... I am going to drop my LB limbs on it AND his RC limbs...

Thanks Dan!!

[duck'n]

I took it to a buddy's house a couple weeks ago and he couldn't put it down.  His other bows include a Zipper 3 pc recurve, Saluki recurve, and a brand new Blacktail 3 pc recurve...pretty good company!

[Dan Bonner]

Brian,
I'm glad you like the bow. I want the next pic I see of it to include a dead critter! Both Hornseeker and Horneshooter have some of your inlaws tx ebony in their bows too. That tree has been involved in about 6 bows so far and I have 4 logs left. I thought that stuff was a pain in the butt to grind but this aluminum is a killer. here are some of the other bows from your tree.

Stripstrike1's bow


Hornseeker's bow


Horneshooter's bow



my brother's longbow

[Dan Bonner]

Sorry for the oversized pics. I thought I had resized them.

Here are the other 2 bows from your tree.

My brother's longbow


Stripstrike1's bow
 

You wouldn't happen to have a snakewood tree in your yard would ya?

[indianalongbowshooter]

Now those are some of the prettiest limbs Ive ever seen. Awesome bow Mr. Bonner really like your brothers bow also.

[Chris Surtees]

Beautiful bows...Texas Ebony and Osage is by far my favorite riser combo.

Love them cedar lams also.

Chris