Latest / Salish Wolf / #72 Christopher Applewhaite on Project Quiver

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#72 Christopher Applewhaite on Project Quiver · Salish Wolf

0:06
Welcome to Project Quiver, a father daughter journey across
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the globe to capture the artistry and spirit of the
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world's finest traditional bow carvers.
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I'm Todd, the father. Ella is my daughter.
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Together we're on a mission to create a stunning coffee table
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book that profiles more than a dozen master bow years and their
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unparalleled skill. For each chapter, we travel to
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the Bow Years workshop. Carve a bow under his guidance,
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photograph his woodcraft in detail, and share his story here
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on the Salish Wolf Podcast. The book is called Quiver, the
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Art of Life. Through Bowcraft and this
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journey, our living story is Project Quiver.
0:48
It's nice to meet you. Yeah, you too.
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I didn't realize that you were based close by.
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Well, it sounds like you're mostly in Costa Rica, but still.
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Yeah, I still have a home base on Vancouver Island, so not far
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for you. I know, I know basically like 3
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things. I know your name's Christopher.
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I know you live on Salt Spring Island and I know you carve
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both. That's that's the extent of what
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I know about you. Yeah, I've been following your
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project, which is really cool. I can't wait till the book comes
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out. It's going to be really, really
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neat. Yeah, I'm also very anxious for
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it, so I don't. What, What gave you the idea to
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do that? It's just a personal interest in
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archery or. It was a personal interest.
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It's been a pretty fun journey for probably about the last
1:32
decade. And I've done some bow carving
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formally with Jamie McDonald of Raven Beak bows and Powell
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River, So just north of north of us on on the British Columbia
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coast. And then I've also one of my
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neighbors is Pete Woodland of Heritage Boats.
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Yeah. And so I've worked with Pete
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quite a bit and I've learned so much from those two guys.
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And so I reached a point where I decided I wanted to kind of go
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on a journey and mentor under a bunch of different bowyers.
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And it started out just as like, that would be fun.
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And I mentioned it to my son, it was them like 10 because he
2:11
always liked tinkering with me in the workshop and helping me
2:14
carve. And then things just kind of
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aligned beautifully about a year ago.
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And well, I guess it's been about a year and a half ago now
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where it started to be more of a possibility than just a pipe
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dream. And at about the same time, my
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daughter mentioned to my wife and I, my daughter's, she's 15
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now, but she was then 14 and she was looking for alternatives to
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to schooling. And so she wanted to do more
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homeschool and more mentor based education.
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And one of the things she wanted to study was photography.
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And so I had this idea of, OK, I'm going to travel and study in
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her different bow years. And I love writing, so I thought
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it'd be fun to write about it, but with no purpose other than
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just to write about it. I didn't think there was
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anything there, but then once she mentioned she wanted to
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study photography, it just kind of all started to come together
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and this beautiful idea, well, maybe we can do this thing
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together. And unfortunately for my son,
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who was, I guess he was probably 11 or 12 when we started, he's
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still in school and it was hard for me to pull him out and take
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him around the world with us. But he did come with us to
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Austria and Switzerland. He also came with us to carve
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some bows with both Jamie and Pete on in British Columbia.
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So he was there for part of it. But the rest of it, it was just
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my daughter and I, and it's an incredible experience.
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And she did some amazing photos. She'll have about, I think the
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book's going to have probably 5 or 600 photos, and all of them
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will be hers. Yeah, it'll be a, it's a heavy
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book. It's going to be between 350 and
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400 pages. Wow, OK.
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Yeah. So yeah, we're really excited
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for it. Yeah, it's it's really cool.
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I'm surprised someone hasn't done something similar already.
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Yeah, I was pleased to when we had the idea, when we started to
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research to make sure no one had done it, I was pleased to see
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that no one had because if they had, we weren't going to try to
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replicate it. But there, there are a lot of
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factors involved and it's, it was very logistically challenged
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to organize everyone and, and to get the traveling down and
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definitely a lot of expense involved in it.
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And fortunately we had the the free time to be able to devote
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to it. So it was just something that we
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were able to make happen and it happened very quickly.
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And we basically started planning it in probably
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September of 2024. And by October we had Bowyers on
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board. And then I think it was June of
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2025 that we started traveling and then we did all the travels
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within five months. And and that wasn't intentional.
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That was just kind of the way I think we were just so excited.
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It just like, oh, he's on board. OK, well, let's go there.
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OK, well, if we're going there, then we can go here.
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And so how many? How many people did you visit
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total? 14 well, fourteen in the book.
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We ended up visiting 15, but one of them didn't work out.
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So we have 14 in the book. Yeah.
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So it's it's it's going to be a great representation of their
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craft and the legacy of primitive archery.
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They were all carved exclusively self bows except for with stay
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found Tim a bamboo bows. And then we did a traditional
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Japanese Kyoto bow. So that was very different from
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all the rest and and but a great experience nonetheless.
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So. That's super cool, I can't wait
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for the buck. Thank you.
5:46
How'd you get involved in archery and beau carving?
5:50
Well, Beau carving I haven't actually been doing for that
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long, maybe the last five or six years.
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I have always been interested in archery since I was a kid,
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making bows out of anything like Lego sticks, bamboo skews,
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whatever. I'm trying to hunt bugs in the
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yard. And probably in my 20s, I think
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I got like a factory Longbow and started going to the range,
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really getting into it, but with the aspiration of of one day
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going hunting with a traditional bow.
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And I don't know why I got into that.
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It's just something that was in me and I think is in most of us
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this sort of hunting instinct. I don't come from a hunting
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family, I don't come from an archery family.
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It's just something I decided that I really enjoyed and and
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wanted to do as a challenge. I've always been in lots into
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outdoor stuff. I've been a flyer fisherman
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since I was 10 or 11 growing up in Alberta.
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So from there life got really busy and we ended up out here on
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the coast. And early on in the pandemic, I
7:00
was trying to keep my kids entertained and we built that
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boxes and bird boxes and carved spoons and did all kinds of
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stuff. And then we got to thinking,
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well, we should try to make some, some bows out of Ocean
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Spray. So I did that, made some bows
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that shot OK for the kids. And my life got super, super
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stressful during the pandemic, as many people did, they work in
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healthcare, so it was very difficult to escape from.
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And eventually I also went to take a course with Jamie and
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built a, a Longbow with him. And that really, you know, I've
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made maybe 3 or 4 crummy bows before that, but that really
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gave me a, a good foundation. And I just, I just got hooked on
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it. It was I, I kind of needed to
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get away and that experience going to Jamie's workshop.
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And I told my family, like, not sorry, you're not invited by
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myself. I'm going to spend the week
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alone just being quiet and doing something with my heads.
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But yeah, and it, it still gives me that like I, I really look
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forward going into the shop after a busy day at work.
8:15
Yeah, it's a bit, it's a bit of therapy and I think a lot of
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people say that. They do, yeah.
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Hey, Christopher, you've got the sun moving directly behind your
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head, so you're kind of blocked out.
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That's better. Yeah.
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The therapy aspect is something that it didn't shock me, but the
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in writing the book, I guess I was amazed by how many of the
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bowyers that we have interviewed and are included in the book
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have gotten into beau carving for the therapeutic aspect or
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archery either or, But I would say it's it's roughly half of
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the 14 all came into beau carving at a very, very crucial
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time in their life when they really needed the therapeutic
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aspect of it. Yeah, it was definitely not for
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me. I was just sort of at this
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breaking point and I needed to get get away and get some quiet
9:07
time in my all of my normal outlets.
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I think, I think you mentioned here a martial artist as well,
9:11
like jiu jitsu was shut down and gyms were shut down and I just
9:16
needed to do something to get quiet down.
9:20
Yeah. Yeah, it's I did too.
9:22
That's why we moved to Costa Rica.
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That was to get away from the the busyness or yeah.
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Because everything was, it was just all locked down and we just
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felt like we couldn't do anything and.
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Yeah, yeah. We had our kids then were
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basically, I don't know, 10:00 and 7:00.
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And it's just like this isn't, this isn't how I want to raise
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my kids. So yeah, it's but I, I resonate
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with you entirely. How how many kids do you have?
9:50
I've got two daughters. They're 9:00 and 11:00.
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And yeah, the youngest one comes out to the shop once in a while.
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She's carving and carving an owl right now with her little knife,
10:02
so. And she's a couple little
10:05
miniature bows. Older ones, not so interested.
10:07
I kind of have to drag her to the range, but yeah.
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So you grew up in Alberta, you said?
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Yeah, I was born in Edmonton and grew up mostly there and then
10:16
Calgary, which is where I was going up to the foothills to try
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and hunt some deer with my friends with their rifles.
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And you know, I didn't, I didn't really like my odds, but it was
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good to be out in the woods. And that's the main reason that
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I like hunting now is not, I mean, I enjoy hunting the the
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hunting aspect and harvesting the meat to feed my family, but
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it's really just about time in the woods, right.
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And hunting with a traditional bow means you'll get lots of
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time in the woods. Maybe not so much meat.
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So is that what you're hunting with exclusively now?
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Yeah, I've never haunted with a rifle.
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I think I'll shot a compound about about 3 arrows, which now
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all landed in the bull's eye and I was kind of like what's upon
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us? Oh, you made it 3 arrows further
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than I do, did I? I held one in my hand once when
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I was. I actually had a friend of mine,
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I was looking to get into archery and I hold him like, I
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want a bow and he's like, well, I got one, let me show it to
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you. And he brings it on this case
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and opens it up and he's got his compound bow in there and I pick
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it up and I hold it to my hand. I was like, no, no thank you,
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this is not what I'm looking for.
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And then it's a totally. Different thing.
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Yeah. And then I came across.
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But it's a different thing. I came across Ravenbeak's
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website, Jamie's website, and ended up buying my first bow
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from him, a long bow so. And that was definitely the
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direction that I was always meant to be.
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And holding that compound bow just did nothing for me other
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than made me know that's not what I want.
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Yeah, that's a similar feeling that that I had just sort of, I
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mean, the practice, getting ready for the hunting season and
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losing all those arrows and getting your mind focused.
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Like the compound bow takes most of that out, at least at the
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ranges that I'm hunting. Like, you know, you just cite it
12:09
in and then you're ready to go. You don't have to worry about it
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too much. You don't really have to get in
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shape for it. Yeah.
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I mean, I'm sure compound hunters would say otherwise.
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And that's nice. Yeah.
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It's it's it. Felt like a real shortcut and
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took out most of the fun parts for me.
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Yeah, yeah, that's there are there are many of us who
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resonate with that and others who who prefer the other way and
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oh great. So yeah.
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That's OK. And you're into other martial
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arts, you said? Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the main
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one. I've done martial arts my whole
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life. I've done karate, Japanese Jiu
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jitsu, Filipino martial arts, jikundo and mostly kickboxing
12:51
and Brazilian Jiu jitsu last well.
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That's awesome. Yeah.
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So I do that mostly to keep in shape and just have always
12:58
enjoyed that as well. And you've been done.
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You. Most of your life you've been
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done. So I'm kind of martial arts,
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yeah, Since I was, I don't know, 8 or 9 probably.
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I think I started doing karate and I've always been doing
13:10
something, but it's been mostly Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and
13:12
kickboxing for the last 10 years or so.
13:16
Nice. Yeah, I do mostly Brazilian Jiu
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Jitsu here and I started with Japanese Jiu Jitsu back when I
13:24
was in Victoria. But my kids kids and I are both
13:27
into the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and nice, we have a great Dojo here
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and we train lots and it's just part of the part of the
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lifestyle. That's great.
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Yeah. So how did?
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So you started carving a few bows and then you went to see
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Jamie. And what's it been like since
13:46
then? Well, it just got me started on
13:50
Down on This Road and I, I'd made an English Longbow with
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Jamie, which was really cool. It's not.
14:01
Wasn't my vision of a bow at that time.
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I think my vision of a bow was more like that first bare lawn
14:06
mow that I had like more of a flat bow.
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When I came back I tried to translate English Longbow into
14:12
some flat bows and had some success, but just started
14:16
building from there and now I'm making sort of flat bows,
14:21
recurves, and English long bows and I don't think I have a
14:26
favorite one. I just like making them all
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stiff handle, bendy handle, whatever.
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And it's just it's just grown from there.
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And each one I try to make better and better.
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And I try to make them, I know it's a traditional archery, but
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I try to put some art into it and I try to make them a bit
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more colorful and, and fun, but more, you know, really
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traditional looks. Yeah, your own style And is it
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mostly you would that you're using?
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I am using mostly you. I worked a bit with Ocean Spray.
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I have some Osage. I'm working on Osage Recurve
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right now with some wood that I traded with Caleb.
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I think you spoke to you as well.
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So that's been cool. It's a really different wood,
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but within a few minutes of working with it, you start to
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get why it's so popular. Feels like a steel bar when you
15:22
are used to working with you. You're like, I don't even work
15:25
like what is it? But once you get it bending and
15:29
all that, yeah, it's I'm excited to see the outcome of that
15:33
recurve that I'm making. Yeah, I love the community too.
15:36
I mean, you've already, we've spoken to multiple people that
15:38
we both know and collaborate with and it's just such a cool
15:41
community. And it is.
15:43
You can start out as just like a nobody, a beginner Bowyer, and
15:46
you can reach out to the best in the world and typically you get
15:48
responses and help and it's, yeah, really cool.
15:52
Yeah, and that's the the cool thing, you know, obviously even
15:56
when I was making those bills for my kids, I sort of got on
16:00
YouTube and it's just like, oh wow, there's there's all this
16:02
information readily available. I can help you through like
16:05
every step of this. And there's different buyers
16:08
with different opinions and like you can learn a lot just online.
16:12
I would never replace having the hands on assistance of a a
16:15
master like Jamie, like really what catapulted me forward,
16:19
which was great. But there's a lot that any
16:22
person can access online if they just want to try picking a book,
16:25
which is cool. Yeah, what do you do with all
16:27
your both? Well, right now they're mostly
16:31
just piling up. I've sold a couple, I've sent a
16:36
couple to Vancouver. They're they're in like Opus
16:39
Archery. I don't know if you know
16:40
Patricia, she runs a sort of traditional archery range and
16:48
she's been a consultant in various films with historical
16:54
archery. So she's like written all types
16:56
of historical archery, does a lot of thumb draw shooting,
17:01
anything traditional she knows about.
17:02
And she's also does some boat building.
17:05
She's actually going to come over and use my shop in the
17:08
spring to do a small boat building course.
17:10
I think the four people are so because I've got a pretty nice
17:12
shop here. So that's coming up in June and
17:15
that's going to be really fun. And you get to take part in
17:17
that, I hope. Yeah, I'm going to be, I don't
17:20
know, I guess in an adjunct instructor or whatever.
17:23
OK, So that's going to be fun. My first time trying to teach
17:27
someone else how to do it so it'll be interesting.
17:31
And you said she's with Opus Archery?
17:33
Lycopus. Sorry, one more time.
17:39
PIS. Lycopus.
17:40
Lycopus. Yeah, they're in Vancouver on
17:42
Main Street. OK.
17:45
Yeah, they're they're doing some pretty cool stuff.
17:47
All right, I'll look that up. Lot of lot of Eastern stuff,
17:50
Thumb draw as well. Yeah, they're neat.
17:55
And then I have a few bows in the shop in town here.
17:57
Axe and reel. I don't know if you've been
17:59
there, but I've got a couple bones down there as well.
18:01
I haven't been on Salt Spring in years.
18:03
I don't, I don't remember the last time I was there.
18:06
Yeah. OK.
18:07
So like a little a little boutique shop that's selling or
18:11
trying to sell your boss. Yeah, well, it's a little
18:13
boutique shop. They got all kinds of local
18:14
artisans in there and then outdoor gear.
18:17
It's such a cool thing about Salt Spring.
18:19
What a an amazing place. How did you end up there?
18:24
So I ended up here. I came, my wife's from the West
18:28
Coast, she grew up on Hornby actually.
18:30
And I came out here for part of my training and then liked it,
18:36
decided to stay and we were kind of on the fence between Victoria
18:39
and moving somewhere a bit smaller.
18:41
Yeah. My wife didn't want to go back
18:43
somewhere as small as Hornby, so Salt Spring was kind of like
18:46
middle size, just you can get off easily and there's enough
18:51
people here that you don't know absolutely everyone.
18:53
So seemed like a good fit and we've been pretty happy here in
18:56
the last almost 10 years. Nice, so beautiful.
19:00
And you, what kind of healthcare work do you do?
19:04
I'm not a physician here. Yeah.
19:06
So that's was super stressful, true early part of the pandemic.
19:11
Yeah. I think myself and a lot of
19:14
people reached sort of burnout and needed to do something about
19:19
it different. So a lot of people left if they
19:22
were near retirement and others just, yeah, a lot of people's
19:26
priorities changed after withstanding a few months about.
19:29
It was really, really tough. Yeah, wow.
19:32
And are you in private practice? I work, I have an office, I work
19:37
in the hospital, I work in the emergency room.
19:39
I do long term care. So it's I'm a a rural journalist
19:43
and I do a bit of everything except I don't really do
19:46
maternity or obstetrics. Yeah, yeah.
19:50
Yeah, that was a wild time and I'm sure we could have many
19:54
conversations about that, but we'll probably probably not for
19:58
this show. Well, exactly.
20:00
Yeah, there's a lot to talk about there, but.
20:03
It was the catalyst for me really getting serious about the
20:05
shop so. That's yeah.
20:07
We'll leave it there. Yeah.
20:09
And then did you build the workshop or was it something you
20:11
had on your on your land? So the workshop.
20:13
Was built by myself and my father-in-law and then we had a
20:19
contractor do some of the like the concrete foundation and
20:22
stuff. It's, it's a pretty nice shop.
20:25
Looking over the the water, it's really.
20:28
Nice, What part of the island are you on?
20:31
I'm on Long Harbor on the north side of Long Harbor, so yeah,
20:36
there's like a bit of a lagoon down below us, so there's always
20:40
lots of birds and seals and all kinds of action going on down
20:43
there. So from your workshop you can
20:44
actually see out you can. See some of that from my
20:47
workshop. That's amazing.
20:49
Yeah, I spend a lot of time in there and.
20:54
Is it primarily bow carving that you do there or do you do other
20:56
woodwork? It is, yeah.
20:58
I mean, I make the occasional spoon.
21:01
Yeah, I. Can build a deck, but like the
21:04
only sort of fine woodworking idea is is boat making.
21:08
Yeah, yeah. So it's, it's all set up for
21:10
that. I've got my saw in there and my
21:13
tailoring tree and a nice bench and yeah, it's pretty much
21:17
optimized for that. Yeah, what tools are you using
21:19
mainly? I assume they're the same tools
21:23
that most people use, but I've been buying, you know, rounds of
21:27
view and I have a nice saw. So I cut them down and stays
21:31
myself and I'm about drying racks.
21:33
I'm about without drying. And yeah, so I'm starting once
21:37
they're dried, starting off with a hatchet draw a knife and then
21:41
lots of rasping and cabinet scrapers.
21:45
Been using this new tool a bit of recently like a a sure form
21:49
plane. I don't know if you've seen
21:50
that. It's kind of like.
21:51
I don't. Know kind of like a a microplane
21:56
that you have in your kitchen for for, but for harder stuff
22:01
like wood. Yeah.
22:02
And it's nice because it doesn't tear out and it moves wood more
22:06
easily than a rasp. It's just like sort of moves a
22:09
similar amount of wood but with less effort.
22:13
I've been playing around with those little yeah and and they
22:17
don't cause any tear out, which is nice to you.
22:19
Yeah, Jamie used used to use a lot of spokeshaves.
22:22
You use a spokeshave. I don't use them that much.
22:27
I have I have a number of them I've maybe I'm just not, maybe I
22:33
haven't given them enough of a chance.
22:34
But I find if there's any any knot or wave I always RIP it out
22:38
with this much. I know I've done more damage on
22:41
staves using it than not. And actually, when I was with
22:45
him in August, yeah, he'd, he'd, I don't think he uses them
22:49
nearly as much as as he used to. Because I know when I, when I
22:52
carved my first few bows with him, I felt like it was mostly
22:55
spokeshave. And so then I went home and
22:56
tried to replicate that and just kept destroying staves.
22:59
And every, every spokeshave is greatly different and just the
23:05
settings on them is, is greatly different.
23:07
So I was having a really tough time gouging wood and just like,
23:10
oh, there it goes that but. Yeah, I think, you know, with my
23:14
fair ears, rasps and my favorite draw knife, I probably do not
23:20
90% of the work with those. Yeah, well, those are nice tools
23:24
to use. And then are you harvesting EU
23:28
or you said you're getting the rounds?
23:30
Are you buying those? No.
23:32
I don't. I've been buying.
23:33
I'm going to have to move it. Sun's moving on us.
23:36
Sun's moving, yeah. Yeah, I've been buying rounds of
23:43
U from a gentleman on the North Island and processing them down
23:49
into staves here, but it's getting hard to I think he
23:53
stopped harvesting and there's another guy near you that
23:56
harvests and I think he's his buddies given and he doesn't
23:59
want to harvest anymore. So as far as I know, there's not
24:02
anyone harvesting a lot of you right now.
24:05
It's been quite a few changes to forestry regulations as well.
24:08
And I think it's it may get quite a bit harder to get wood.
24:11
So I'm glad that I have a little pile here to keep me going for a
24:16
while, but I'm I'm scheming about going out myself with my
24:20
truck next winter to see what I can find because don't think
24:25
there's anyone really doing it around here right now.
24:28
Yeah. What do you have on the island
24:29
for you? Slots yeah, I I don't really
24:35
feel that comfortable cutting it down locally here though of
24:38
course it would like likely be missed.
24:40
Yeah there's one there's one a 5 minute walk for my property
24:44
that's got like a 20 foot clean straight section on it's crazy
24:49
probably make eight bows up. I look at it all the time.
24:53
But anyhow, it's it's staying. We'll stay in there.
24:58
Yeah, well, I write about it in the chapter of the book where we
25:02
visited with Jamie about the destruction of the forest and
25:07
around his place in Powell River and and really throughout
25:10
British Columbia. But you would is not being
25:13
treated as a lumber wood at all and it becomes just a byproduct
25:17
of the lumber industry. And so when they clear cut these
25:19
massive acreages like of thousands and thousands of
25:24
hectares of land, the yew trees just get destroyed.
25:27
They have absolutely 0 use to them.
25:32
Yeah, that's really sad. And I guess you know, although I
25:36
wish they weren't clearly well this old growth, I I sort of
25:39
like the idea that I'm doing something with this byproduct.
25:42
Yeah, of the of that destruction.
25:44
So, yeah, it'd be nice if we could leave some of that old
25:48
growth standing. But the way that we rotate, you
25:51
know, it sort of managed the forest as a farm.
25:55
The yew trees never really get a chance to get to the size that
25:58
we need for what we're doing. When I was strolling here the
26:02
other day through, I don't know, 18 to 24 inch fir that had been
26:08
cut I don't know how long ago when I found one Yew Tree in
26:11
there and it was two inches. Oh exactly, and they probably
26:15
started growing at the same time.
26:17
Yeah. And if this, you know, this was
26:19
not, this was not a industrial forest I was walking in.
26:22
But if it was, it would be time to harvest those first again, so
26:25
that blue tree would be gone and maybe back to no use in there.
26:29
So until the day comes that forestry practices change, it's
26:36
it's kind of a dwindling resource.
26:39
Yeah. Jamie took us on a drive out the
26:41
logging roads to see like one of the patches of his favorite yew
26:46
trees. And here as we were literally
26:48
driving in, he's like oh shit. And literally we're watching the
26:52
excavators and big machines just blasting through the area.
26:56
Everything was good. Was that second direct or old
26:59
growth by him? It was having a lot.
27:01
Of second growth, there's I don't.
27:03
Think there's any power river anymore like that?
27:05
Place got cleaned up. That's a lumber place.
27:09
Yeah. Yeah.
27:11
I just so sad. And we did go walking through
27:13
some parts of the forest and yew trees were everywhere.
27:16
But like you said, it interspersed with the fir trees
27:19
that were 5 to 10 times as big. And then you have these little
27:23
yew trees or maybe 4 to 6 inches in diameter.
27:26
But that's that's a lot of years of growth.
27:29
Yeah, yeah, there's some real beauties on Salt Spring.
27:32
Like if you want to see nice yew trees, there's some real
27:34
specimens here, mostly along Creek beds and stuff that never
27:38
got logged there. They're massive.
27:40
Yeah. Really, really, really cool
27:41
trees here. Any that you can work with just
27:44
branches? I have gotten a couple branches.
27:48
There was a big fir that fell down on it, a huge tree that I I
27:52
sort of have a map of few trees I use.
27:55
I use my hunting app to mark out yew trees instead of getting
27:59
good on the big spots. I was checking out one of them
28:03
and a big fur had come down and knocked off a nice branch that
28:06
that's seasoning on my rack, right?
28:09
Yeah, we just weathered a huge, like 10 days of massive winds
28:13
here. And so similar to you, I have a
28:16
map of all the lemon wood trees around here.
28:18
Like it's more, it's more of a mental map, but I, I kind of
28:21
know where they all are. So I went walking around kind of
28:24
hoping there was some tree fall so I can, I could salvage some
28:27
lemon wood, but they always stood.
28:28
So I was like, damn, no lemon wood.
28:31
There, Actually, that's not true.
28:32
I did harvest one tree here. It was an absolutely massive
28:37
view that was down and dying. In fact, I probably should have
28:40
gotten it last year because it was mostly dead.
28:44
Unfortunately, it was almost too big.
28:45
It had become so fluted and had so many pin knots growing on the
28:49
upside of where it had come down that it's going to be difficult
28:53
to use. But I did.
28:54
I think I got one or two staves out of it.
28:56
It was, again, just massive. So much, so much work.
29:03
To yeah, almost one or two and a half feet around, I think.
29:07
Like it was a big new tree. Yeah.
29:10
But I, you know, for us, it's kind of like 8 to 10 inches is
29:15
where I want to catch them. Or even yeah, 10 inches
29:17
somewhere in there. That's what are the sweet spot
29:20
before they got all those deep furrows in them.
29:23
Yeah, yeah, We saw loads of them in Europe, especially in Austria
29:27
and Switzerland, and they're mostly protected, so people
29:30
aren't harvesting them, but they're everywhere in cities.
29:33
Like, where was it? Salzburg, just filled with big
29:37
yew trees. And we went to Saint Galen and
29:39
Switzerland, huge yew trees everywhere.
29:42
It's just so amazing to see them.
29:43
But yeah, yeah, definitely not not Bow Wood the way that
29:47
they're sitting in in city centers and that big, but.
29:52
We are lucky here though. I mean, if if I can't if I can't
29:56
get you. Thankfully there is lots of
29:57
other bow woods that grow here. Introduce stuff.
30:00
There's tons of laburnum on Salt Spring Island, but it's.
30:03
Nice. Yeah, I don't know if you've
30:04
seen that, but it's it's gorgeous.
30:06
Like I have a laburnum on my farm on North Vic.
30:11
I didn't know it was a bow wood until I started Project Quiver.
30:14
And when I was in Switzerland with Simon Kell of Self Bow dot
30:18
Chapter, we carved A laburnum flat bow.
30:21
Yeah. So it's good.
30:23
Only bow, only time I've used laburnum, but yeah, it's a
30:25
beautiful wood. There's tons of black locust
30:28
around. That's a great black one as
30:30
well. It's great, and it's invasive,
30:31
too. It's a rapid, rapid grower.
30:35
Yeah, it's a really good one. So thankfully and you can grow
30:38
Osage here. I got a couple little ones
30:41
planted. They won't be bows in my
30:42
lifetime, but I got hot S facing the slope and they're going to
30:46
be pretty happy there. I.
30:47
Think and then you mentioned some ocean spray.
30:48
Have you carved any proper bows with it, or did you use more
30:50
than just small saplings? It's been mostly saplings and
30:55
kids bows I did on my map. I, I do have a a really thick
31:00
nice straight piece of Ocean Spray that I'm going to go grab
31:03
one of these days. So I'll just try and make a
31:06
proper bow out of that one. And I've got 1 partially
31:08
finished Longbow of Ocean Spray. But I have to say, when I have a
31:15
pile of you, yeah. Exactly.
31:18
What I'm looking at it's it's hard to, it's hard to find some
31:21
ocean spray. It is, yeah.
31:23
And then you got loads of fruit trees too.
31:26
Have you tried apple or pear or plum?
31:29
Or anything I have AI have a plum stave also that's sitting
31:32
seasoning and I'll get these days.
31:34
So yeah, there's options. Thankfully, none of them as
31:38
beautiful as you, and probably none of them as nice to work as
31:41
you, but there's. Options.
31:42
I really like to work on a black locust.
31:45
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did 3 bows in black locust for
31:49
the project 2IN Italy and one in Spain.
31:52
And yeah, it's, it's a definitely a more difficult wood
31:58
to work with than you or Osage that really requires an
32:02
excellent tiller. But if you can do that, you get
32:05
an excellent bow. Because it's not that strong on
32:08
compression. It's yeah, I don't want to say
32:13
the wrong thing. I forget it's it's very
32:19
sensitive on the that. Totally makes sense, Yeah.
32:21
Because if it's not compression, if you have any irregularities
32:25
in the belly, it's going to, Yeah, it's going to go right,
32:28
yeah. Yeah, those are and that's
32:30
that's the benefit of carving bows with the mentorship of
32:34
teachers. Right there with you is that you
32:36
kind of go more into auto drive and it's like, all right, you
32:38
just make sure I don't mess things up and and whisper in my
32:41
ear what where you want me to remove wood.
32:43
So it's not as I haven't carved one on my own yet.
32:47
So haven't had that the true opportunity to experience its
32:52
challenges on my own. Yeah.
32:55
But yes, I would like to get around to that one day.
32:57
I got to just find someone who's got some on their property and.
33:00
Yeah, and I only just recently learned how invasive it is and
33:02
how fast it grows. It's crazy, Yeah.
33:05
It's like a weed. Yeah, so I've, I've, I don't
33:09
even know where I saw it, but somewhere there was someone was
33:13
kind of purporting the the benefits of growing black
33:18
locusts to harvest young and to use as fence posts and and other
33:21
things and building materials 'cause it's pretty rot resistant
33:24
and grows fast. And yeah, so I went to when I
33:29
was in Italy with Enrico Maraji of our Cacabose, he took us to a
33:33
farm where he used to, he used to live on the farm and there
33:36
was a, a planted forest, a black locust there.
33:39
And yeah, it's all there was for probably 100 square meters,
33:44
which is these little, well, not, not so little, but probably
33:46
like 4 inch diameter black locust trees.
33:49
Nothing else was growing there 'cause I guess that's how
33:51
invasive they are. They just kind of took over.
33:53
But yeah, I'll. I think Dogwood's pretty good
33:56
too, and we do have those grow around here as well.
34:00
I haven't worked with it either, but yeah, there's so many
34:03
options. And then of course, the maples
34:04
and the Oaks. And yeah, it's really, it's one
34:08
of the true joys, isn't it, of, of bow making is getting to work
34:11
with all the different materials and learning about the nuances
34:14
of each of them. Yeah.
34:16
And they really do have different characters and
34:18
different things that you have to fuss about with.
34:20
Yeah, it's neat. Do you back any of your bows
34:24
with anything? I do yeah, I rawhide backs some
34:30
of my U bows, especially the ones that I'm thinking will be
34:32
hunting bows use fairly stuffed. And if you're running around in
34:36
the in the woods chasing deer, it's nice to have that little
34:39
bit of extra armor on the bow. It it looks good with the usap
34:43
wood and it's like doesn't take away any performance.
34:46
So I like working with that. I have a pile of sinew which I
34:51
haven't gotten around to using yet, and every year I keep my
34:55
little bits of sinew for my deer, but I haven't haven't made
34:58
that leap yet. So done some snakeskin and and
35:02
rawhide primarily what I'm using.
35:04
I like using raw. Yeah.
35:05
What's keeping you from doing this, you know?
35:09
I just, I just haven't gotten brave enough to, to do it yet, I
35:12
guess. I, I haven't had anyone show me
35:15
how to do it. So I'd be I'd be doing that one
35:17
on my own. I I was shocked by how easy it
35:20
was to work with. I, I used it to back a juniper
35:24
bow with Chuck Lochler of Hartwood bow was in Utah and
35:28
juniper really needs a backing according to Chuck.
35:30
And so he backs pretty much all of his and sinew.
35:33
And it was just so easy. Made a little mess in his
35:38
kitchen, but just combed out the strands of sinew so they were
35:41
nice thin and linear. And then using just animal high
35:45
glue, just spread it literally just spread it linearly on the
35:48
back of the bow. I didn't even sand it down.
35:50
I kept the the original texture of it because we were doing more
35:53
of a a replica flat bow. But I have sanded I've done
35:58
other bows where I've used some sinew and sanded and it sounds
36:01
like sounds down like fiberglass.
36:03
It's so smooth. But yeah, it looks really good.
36:05
Just to keep it raw cool. Yeah, I'll have a little try.
36:09
Really easy to work with and it's instead of having like if
36:13
you have like 8 inch strips, don't have them all end at the
36:15
same section, have them overlap more like a zipper or something.
36:19
Yeah. Yeah.
36:20
So yeah, and I've when we were doing it, I'm like, this is so
36:23
messy. Am I doing it wrong?
36:24
He's like, no, it's fine. I'm like, but what about like
36:26
this gob here? And he's like, no, it's fine.
36:27
Just, you know, spread it long. And I was like, all right.
36:31
And sure enough, it's one of my favorite bows to shoot.
36:33
It's. I bet yeah, people always about
36:36
this Juniper Sharp post. Oh yeah, we took it out to the
36:39
salt flats and did some flight shooting.
36:41
The first time I've ever done that, and I was like, holy shit,
36:43
this is a really cool bow. And he set a few flight world
36:48
flight records with his very similar bow sinew back juniper
36:52
so. Cool.
36:54
Yeah, I was. I was, especially if you have
36:56
the sinew. That's been my deterrent as I
36:58
don't really have a source for it that I've located.
37:01
But since you have the sinew, well.
37:02
You can find it online sometimes.
37:04
Yeah, I'm sure as well as. Yeah, in the States where they
37:07
got these big deer farms. You know, our people are killing
37:11
deer with AK-40, some crazy stuff.
37:14
Jesus. They end up with a lot of sinew
37:16
and there there are guys selling it so.
37:19
Wow, that's one way to hunt, isn't it?
37:23
Yeah, it's a different world, Yeah.
37:28
So how much archery practice do you do just shooting on a range
37:32
or in your backyard? So I don't shoot that much in
37:36
the winter. In the winter I'm mostly
37:38
building. Yeah, I I'll shoot in bows, of
37:40
course, but I, I'm not really thinking about like really
37:45
getting tuned in. But I think, you know, the
37:47
blazer starting to get longer here and I'll start getting
37:50
ramped up for a hunting season anytime now start pick out a bow
37:54
that I want to use, start tuning arrows and trying to shoot every
37:57
single day to be ready for that shot because it's it's pretty,
38:04
pretty easy to blow it. When once you get that deer in
38:07
front of you with the big rack or whichever deer 1010 yards
38:10
away from you, you got to be really, really dialed in,
38:13
really, really confident and and make that shot.
38:16
Are you hunting alone? Mostly.
38:18
I do hunt alone mostly, Yeah, yeah, I got a couple of friends
38:21
that I go out with, but I find especially if I'm hunting with
38:26
someone who's got a crossbow or something like that, like it's I
38:28
mean, I'm kind of taking Ben hunting.
38:32
I don't I don't usually get get the shots and that's fine.
38:34
It's still time in the woods. But yeah, all of all of my
38:38
serious hunting happens alone. Nice.
38:40
And you try out what distance you try to get within. 12 to 15,
38:47
like 15 knocks, yeah, I mean, I could probably shoot further,
38:51
but these they're quick and they'll they'll move a long way
38:55
as if you're 20 yards before that arrow gets there,
38:58
especially with the self bow. Yeah, I think 12 like perfect.
39:06
Do you have a go to bow that you use?
39:09
I do, I have one self bow that I really like for hunting and then
39:13
I also my favorite, you know, sort of factory bow is super
39:19
shrew 2 by shrew bow. I don't.
39:21
Know any factory bow so. Yeah, yeah.
39:24
So it's like. Super Shrew 2 all right.
39:26
It just just makes me happy. That's a Reflex D flex Longbow,
39:32
and it's just dead quiet and easy to shoot.
39:35
It's really nice. So yeah, one of those two is
39:38
usually what I take out. What's the draw weight on
39:40
yourself both that you use? It's about 54 lbs I think.
39:46
Yeah, OK, somewhere and then? Yeah, and what do you prefer to
39:48
shoot and to make heavier bows or lighter bows or somewhere in
39:52
between? Well, I think as I'm a hunter,
39:55
I'm always sort of, maybe it's a flaw, but I'm always thinking
39:59
like, well, you got to be able to hunt with this.
40:01
Yeah. I don't usually go under 40 lbs
40:04
and I don't like trying to hunt with.
40:07
Like 60s kind of the upper limit for slinging a lot of arrows for
40:10
me to to get really dialed in. I can shoot a hint in your bow,
40:14
but I'm not going to be out every day shooting for an hour
40:16
with 100 LB bow. No, I'm going to do that.
40:18
Injured for sure. Yeah.
40:21
So no, yeah, I'd say 45 to 55 is kind of a sweet spot for me
40:27
personally. And then are you using primitive
40:31
arrows or are you using? So when I'm hunting, I, I
40:35
usually use modern arrows. I I have some primitive arrows
40:41
set up that I'd like to take out.
40:42
Well, I guess they're not fully primitive.
40:43
They're bamboo, but I have they're still steelheads.
40:50
Well, I guess just out of respect, I, I haven't gotten a
40:55
primitive arrow flying well enough.
40:57
Yeah, for me to happy throwing it out of deer so far.
41:01
It's obviously possible people do it, but I haven't been able.
41:05
To and with the modern arrows are are you finding any issue
41:10
with the Archer's Paradox curving around the self bow
41:13
handle? No, no, I don't.
41:17
They, I mean they come in all kinds of spines and obviously
41:21
you're using softer spines and you would be with a head knee.
41:25
Well certainly with a compound. But yeah, you can get them to
41:28
line up and there's lots of companies making different wait.
41:31
So you can get a lot of FOC and get, get them shooting really
41:34
nice. I, I find that traditional bows
41:38
and they really like that heavy FOC to get the, the arrow moving
41:44
around the the grip. And yeah, you can get some
41:47
fantastic flight and get them straightening out really
41:50
quickly. I think you and Caleb were
41:52
talking, right? Someone who were interviewing
41:54
was talking about how on those really close shots are, you know
41:57
the arrow hasn't really settled yet, right?
41:59
I think that was Pete. Yeah.
42:01
Was it Pete? Yeah.
42:02
He was talking about tuning his bows that way, standing like 3
42:05
meters from the target. Yeah, yeah.
42:07
So, you know, if you get enough weight up front, they'll
42:12
straighten out real quick for you.
42:13
And it's it's nice. You can get nice.
42:15
Groups. I've not used any modern arrows,
42:16
period. Yeah, it's always wooden or
42:20
bamboo shaft arrows. Yeah, Yeah.
42:23
That's great. I haven't.
42:26
Yeah, maybe I'll try that this year.
42:27
But I'm not hunting. I don't have the opportunity
42:29
here in Costa Rica and sorry. Yeah, I just want to be really
42:36
respectful to the game and. Yeah, I don't think it's allowed
42:39
here. So I'm not doing it here.
42:41
And I just didn't. I wasn't really enough into it
42:44
when I lived in BC to because I didn't grow up as a hunter and I
42:47
was just really getting into archery.
42:49
But I still hadn't made that kind of step into, OK, now I'm
42:53
ready to kill something with my bow.
42:56
And now I'm like, OK, food's really expensive and I would
42:59
love to be able to provide some some meat for the family, but I
43:01
don't have that opportunity here.
43:04
Yeah, well, when you're back back on, well, what if you spend
43:08
time up here? There's sure a lot of deer
43:09
around. Yeah.
43:11
When's the season there? It starts in the end of August I
43:17
believe. I usually just, I'm scouting
43:22
around at that time of year. The, the bucks kind of go into
43:26
hiding in August and early September.
43:28
You won't see them much no matter how hard you try, but
43:31
you'll see signs of them. So you'll pick out your spots
43:33
And then in October that all of a sudden the party's on,
43:37
everyone's out and it's it's time to try and get one.
43:40
Yeah. Yeah.
43:42
The season runs from, I think end of August until
43:45
mid-december, but around here, October is the time, yeah.
43:50
Yeah, well, last night I almost hand harvested an armadillo.
43:53
I walked out my door and an armadillo was sitting on my
43:55
front porch and I was like, oh shit, hey, little buddy.
43:59
And it didn't run. I have no idea.
44:02
They're so adorable. There's no way I would eat one.
44:06
It was being like so quiet. My dog, one of my dogs was
44:09
sitting there and I was like, do you not see what's going?
44:12
And it didn't. It hadn't even seen it yet.
44:14
And I walked out and the armadillo didn't seem to care
44:16
that I was there. And so I called out to my
44:18
family. I'm like, hey, guys, come look.
44:20
And about, about that time, my dog saw it and jumped up, ran
44:23
towards it, tripped over it. And then the armadillo just kind
44:28
of hissed and took off, but not very fast because that they're
44:31
not very fast. Yeah, it's, they are adorable.
44:36
But yeah, hunting is. Yeah, I I think I'm, I'm ready
44:40
to move in that direction. But yeah, it's not, it's not for
44:45
everyone hunting with a traditional year for sure.
44:48
Yeah, it's definitely not for everyone.
44:51
But I think that those people that, that it resonates with,
44:56
it's, it's like a, it's a, it's a real experience.
44:59
I, I look forward to it all year.
45:02
It's either hunting season or waiting for the next hunting
45:04
season now. And it's become a big part of my
45:07
annual cycle. And do you find it is similarly
45:13
therapeutic as bow carving or different or how does it?
45:17
Is it therapeutic for you? It is for sure, yeah.
45:23
And I got it's not, I don't think it's the harvesting per SE
45:26
that's therapeutic, but it's the time of.
45:28
The time of the forest, Yeah, the.
45:30
Time of. Being tuned in and.
45:33
Yeah, you get, I mean, when you're in traditional bow range,
45:37
it's just, I mean, yeah, you can shoot a deer with a rifle from
45:40
300 yards, but it's it's not, it's not the same as hearing the
45:44
deer breathing and hearing equalizations and like really,
45:50
you know, seeing them breathe, being able to actually really
45:53
see the rib cage moving, like you're just at a totally more
45:56
intimate level than hunting with a rifle or even a compound.
46:01
I think so. You know, I've, I've rattled
46:06
deer and they've come 3-4 yards for me.
46:10
I've I've had a dough on a fun walk with like I could have pet
46:14
them and deer, deer, at least around here, I think they're
46:18
used to smelling people. So the smell will make them
46:20
anxious. But if you don't move that,
46:23
that's the movement that really puts them off.
46:25
And then they, they were nervous, but they, I just sat
46:28
still. They walked right back like I
46:31
could have reached out and pet them.
46:32
So you're not all those kind of experiences hunting with a with
46:35
a rifle and there's something about sitting still in the mud
46:39
and really taking it all in that's it's pretty neat.
46:42
Yeah, you got some banging on them.
46:45
Yeah, there's some. We're getting a new sink.
46:49
Nice. Sorry about the noise.
46:51
That's all right. Yeah.
46:53
And what do you do when you harvest You obviously you
46:56
harvest the meat. What do you do with the rest of
46:58
the animal? So the hides.
47:01
My wife has done traditional brand tanning with a couple of
47:04
the hides and she's made some pretty neat stuff with that, so
47:08
that's cool. I keep the antlers.
47:12
If it's a smaller deer, I keep the antlers.
47:14
I use that for tip overlays and that sort of thing.
47:17
I keep the sinew. I don't do anything with the
47:21
organs currently. Most of them, like we eat the
47:23
heart, but I do leave the labor in in the field.
47:26
I keep the kidneys. The gut stays in the field.
47:29
But yeah, I try to use as much of it as I can, obviously.
47:32
That's great. That's great to eat.
47:34
That's great to eat. Yeah, sausage and burgers and
47:37
roasts of all kinds of stuff. It's really good.
47:40
And how many do you typically get in a season?
47:43
Usually 1A year, that's enough for our family.
47:45
Yeah, yeah. Usually just running out when
47:47
hunting seasons coming around again.
47:50
Yeah, it works out well. Yeah, well, I would love to come
47:53
over and see your setup next time I'm back.
47:55
On yeah, that will be. Fantastic in the area.
47:58
Yeah, I've seen your bows on Instagram since we started this
48:01
project. Well, not since the beginning,
48:02
but at some point came across your your profile and make some
48:06
beautiful stuff. Yeah, they're, they're getting
48:09
better and better, I hope. And that's.
48:12
That's the goal, yeah. Yeah, that's the goal.
48:14
And you know, like I said, I'm trying to make them beautiful
48:18
and functional and trying to give them a bit of bit of flair
48:21
too. Yeah, I tell you, when we came
48:23
back from our travels for Project Quiver after having we
48:27
actually carved 15 bows, my entire collection of bows that I
48:31
had carved before, then I just all cried when I saw him.
48:34
I'm like, oh, I can't, I can't shoot these things anymore.
48:38
They're terrible. Yeah, it was, it was a it was
48:41
incredible because I remember finishing each of those and
48:44
being so happy, like, wow, this is beautiful.
48:48
And my every time I would refine the tips even more, my son would
48:51
be like, yeah, that's it, That's beautiful.
48:53
And then we looked at them all again.
48:55
I'm like, oh, they're so ugly. They're so.
49:00
That's kind of a cool thing. The last one I posted on
49:02
Instagram, I don't know if you saw it, was like a flip tip
49:04
Longbow. That bow was actually made from
49:08
one of the very first flat bows I ever made.
49:10
It was like a real dog. It was super heavy, but still
49:14
like just flung a super slow arrow and it was bad tiller.
49:18
It was a bad bow, so I took it and I was like, well this is a
49:22
nice piece of wood. I'm going to rework it and now
49:24
it's like it's one of my best shooting bows.
49:25
So it's. Cool.
49:26
You can sort of transform something into something new.
49:30
Yeah, drop the weight, shortened it up a bit, steamed in a little
49:34
bit of reflex on the tips, and it's a fantastic bow.
49:36
That's one of my favorites now, so.
49:38
That's awesome. Yeah, I'm building a workshop
49:40
here. And so when that's done in a
49:42
month or two, then I'm going to be putting probably all of my
49:45
previous bows back into the workshop and doing some cleaning
49:49
up on them and losing some mass and and whatnot.
49:52
And here the humidity is a real problem and so.
49:55
Yeah, I was going to ask about that.
49:57
So you have lemon wood there, you said?
49:58
Yeah, lots of lemon wood, which I have not worked with yet
50:02
because I haven't, I haven't carved since being here.
50:05
It's I always save the carving for when I'm back on Vancouver
50:07
Island, but I have now that I know what lemon wood is.
50:12
I asked around for a few years and no one could really tell me
50:16
where it was or what it was or what it looked like.
50:19
The lumber yards didn't have anything.
50:21
And then it turns out I have 7 mature lemon wood trees on my
50:27
quarter acre property. I.
50:29
Had no idea I they are literally on both sides of my archery
50:33
range. I kid you not.
50:34
Like I've got like 3 on each side.
50:36
And I've, I found out last like June, I asked my contractor,
50:42
he's building my workshop. He was asking about cutting down
50:44
maybe a few trees. I'm like, no, I don't want you
50:46
to cut anything down. And I was like, well, what is
50:48
this tree anyway? And his, his, his girlfriend was
50:52
there and she's from this area. And she's like, oh, that's,
50:54
that's Madronio, which is lemon wood.
50:56
And I was like, are you kidding me?
50:58
I've been looking for this wood for three years and it's on my
51:01
property. And it turns out it's everywhere
51:04
around here. Yeah, anywhere.
51:06
It's, it reminds me of our Butus in the sense that if it can see
51:09
the ocean, it's growing. You know, our Butus really loves
51:12
to have like ocean views. It's kind of the same lemon
51:14
wood. It's, it's almost, from what I'm
51:17
finding here, it's almost always very coastal within, like a
51:22
within viewing distance of the ocean.
51:24
It's a really, really hardwood and it goes grows pretty
51:27
straight. Not, not always, but there's
51:30
definitely some good wood to be had and good staves to be had in
51:33
most of them. So yeah, other than that, like
51:36
all the woods that I brought down here, all the bows that I
51:39
built elsewhere did not do very well.
51:41
Hickory did terrible here with the humidity I've had.
51:44
I've had UU bows fail in the humidity.
51:48
So I started making laminates out of tropical hardwoods.
51:51
I did that for like 2 years because I teach archery here and
51:54
I needed some bows and everything I kept bringing down
51:57
kept failing. So I ended up making probably 15
52:00
or so laminates out of tropical hardwoods and most of them have
52:03
done quite well here. Yeah.
52:06
But even still when I came back after being gone for I guess in
52:10
total we were gone for continuous months in the rainy
52:14
season. And although my bows were inside
52:16
and and air conditioned place, they were covered in mold.
52:19
Like literally covered in mold. Really.
52:21
Yeah. I haven't, I haven't stripped
52:24
them all off yet and resounded them, but that's part of the the
52:27
end game once I get my workshop done.
52:29
And so I'm going to have to figure out how to carve them
52:31
during the rainy season. Rainy season is 6 months a year
52:33
here and it's so humid that from what I've been reading is I
52:37
can't really. And my carving studio is kind of
52:39
indoor outdoor. And so I can't really be carving
52:43
outside for too long on any given day during the early rainy
52:47
season because the, the moisture is just, it's like nowhere.
52:50
Well, it's, it's tropical. It's, it's, we're in a jungle.
52:53
So that's, I've got to learn, I've got to learn how to do
52:56
that. And I'll have, I'll have a heat
52:58
box, I presume. I presume that's necessary, but
53:02
it'll be a learning curve. For sure.
53:05
Yeah, you, you reminded me that one day I want to make a bow out
53:10
of Purple Heart, which grows in Guyana, which is where my dad's
53:13
from. Nice.
53:13
That's all on my tick list to make about out of Purple Heart.
53:17
I've used a lot of Purple Heart in laminates.
53:20
Yeah, it's apparently an OK bow would bow would to make an
53:24
entire bow would. Make a S bow out of Wow, that
53:25
would be a gorgeous bow. I think you got to laminate it
53:28
like you probably have to put bamboo on the back.
53:30
Or something. Yeah, I normally have used it in
53:34
the core. Yeah, almost always in the core
53:37
of my laminates. Interesting.
53:39
Yeah, yeah, there's some beautiful woods out there.
53:43
That sure is. Yeah, well, thank you, dude.
53:45
I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me.
53:48
Nice meeting you. Yeah.
53:49
And you're welcome anytime to come by and.
53:52
Likewise, either to our farm on Vancouver Island or if you want
53:55
to come to Costa Rica, come on down.
53:57
Well, we were almost there last summer.
53:59
We went to Central America. We in the end, we didn't make it
54:01
to Costa Rica, but we went to Panama, Mexico, Guatemala,
54:07
Belize, wow. And had a had a really nice
54:10
couple months down there. Ground.
54:12
Yeah, yeah, it was really great. It's amazing.
54:15
Yeah, well, let's definitely stay in touch and we'll figure
54:19
something out. And then what is your Where can
54:22
people find out more about you? What's your social media?
54:27
Yeah, mostly it's Oshosi Bose on Instagram currently.
54:32
I am working on a website right now and I hope that'll be linked
54:35
from there in the next couple of months.
54:36
So if you want to see my work, it will be currently on
54:40
Instagram and soon on a website. And as I said.
54:44
How do you spell Oshosi? OSHOSI.
54:51
OK. And what does that mean?
54:53
So that Oshosi is a Yoruba hunting deity and that's a W
54:58
African people. And the reason I picked that is
55:02
because my roots are in the Caribbean.
55:05
But a lot of these W African deities came over to the
55:09
Caribbean and still exist under different names and traditions
55:13
like Voodoo and and Santeria. So these same deities exist in
55:16
it. It's just a cool example of
55:19
cultural transfer across the ocean, which is kind of my
55:22
personal history as well. And it's an it's obviously an
55:25
archery deity. And he's, he's the hunter and
55:29
he's usually depicted with a bow and a single arrow because
55:31
because he never, he never misses.
55:33
So. So he thought.
55:34
That's that's the story there. Oh, it's awesome.
55:36
I love that. Cool.
55:38
All right, well, I'll put the Instagram in the show notes and
55:41
then let me know when you got the website done.
55:43
Yeah, perfect. Thank you so much, Christopher.
55:46
You're very welcome. Nice meeting you.
55:48
You too. Thanks for listening to Project
55:58
Quiver on Salish Wolf. Follow our journey on Instagram
56:02
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56:05
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56:12
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56:15
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56:19
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