Latest / Salish Wolf / #60 Erich Streichsbier on Project Quiver
Transcript
- 0:06Welcome to Project Quiver, a father daughter journey across
- 0:09the globe to capture the artistry and spirit of the
- 0:12world's finest traditional bow carvers.
- 0:14I'm Todd, the father. Ella is my daughter.
- 0:17Together we're on a mission to create a stunning coffee table
- 0:20book that profiles more than a dozen master bow years and their
- 0:23unparalleled skill. For each chapter, we travel to
- 0:26the Bow Years workshop. Carve a bow under his guidance,
- 0:29photograph his woodcraft in detail and share his story here
- 0:32on the Salish Wolf Podcast. The book is called Quiver the
- 0:36Art of Life. Through Bow Craft and this
- 0:38journey, our living story is Project Quiver.
- 0:48Eric, thanks for joining me today.
- 0:50Welcome to my workshop here. Where is your workshop?
- 0:55You're somewhere in Austria, right?
- 0:57My workshop is in the north of Austria in in Whitefield.
- 1:02It's in Lower Austria, and Whitefield is a region in Lower
- 1:05Austria which is very famous for its Mystic atmospheres and foggy
- 1:13weather and lots of lonely forests.
- 1:17Yes, great. Well, I look forward to seeing
- 1:20it soon. Yeah.
- 1:22So I'm coming to see you with my daughter and I believe September
- 1:26we're going to carve a beautiful bow with you and get to know you
- 1:29a bit better. See your workshop and in your
- 1:32community. How did?
- 1:34Archery come into your life. Archery came into my into my
- 1:40life at the point where it wasn't very easy for me.
- 1:43I had some kind of nervous breakdown because there were
- 1:46very lot of things which came together and it's like, like, I
- 1:52don't know, we, we moved and it was stressful at my job and we
- 1:57had in a ferry accident and my father had a really serious
- 2:01disease and all together was was not easy.
- 2:06I also had three little kids and my wife was on, on night shifts
- 2:13and weekend shifts a lot. And all these together caused a
- 2:17nervous breakdown actually. And then I took a year off and
- 2:22I, I, I wanted to, to paint a lot and then to study philosophy
- 2:27and painting and so on. And but what, what I did a lot
- 2:33to my own surprise was, was actually in fact then I made
- 2:40some course at, at the University of Vienna, there is a
- 2:43sports institute and, and started to, to go to 3D per
- 2:48course and so on. And that was that was my my
- 2:53entry into into this whole archery issue and.
- 2:58So the course at the University of Vienna was to practice
- 3:02archery. It was.
- 3:02Learning practice archery actually, but it was just just
- 3:06shooting on 80 meters with an Olympic recurve.
- 3:10And then I saw people there with, with self pose and that
- 3:14was more interesting to me. And so I I was seen in the woods
- 3:20of of of of Vienna and around OK very soon after.
- 3:26Looking for staves or for trees that you could cut into staves,
- 3:29yeah. This as well, but but actually
- 3:33to to go pretty parkours and at that time I wasn't into self
- 3:39into into bow carting at all because I, I, I couldn't do it
- 3:43actually. And at the end of this year, off
- 3:47I had I, I did some a bow making course and that that was
- 3:52actually actually the, the the entry into this bow making
- 3:57stuff. OK.
- 3:59Well, thank you for sharing about the the challenges that
- 4:03you had that brought you into archery.
- 4:05It's, it's a really, it's surprisingly a common theme.
- 4:08A lot of people I've interviewed have come into archery almost as
- 4:12a form of therapy to help them through a difficult part in
- 4:16their life. What, what did the archery bring
- 4:21to you? Like how?
- 4:23How did it help to change or heal you?
- 4:27Archery when? When I made this course, it was
- 4:31on the weekend and, and I carved my first bow.
- 4:35It seemed to be like like magic to turn some, some log with bark
- 4:39on it into a bow within two or three days.
- 4:43It was great. And then at the end of this
- 4:45workshop, I was I, I finished it up a little bit earlier and I
- 4:50was the only guy left with the guy who who teached me.
- 4:54And then we had some time and we went into the forest nearby.
- 4:59And because there was also a three Deepak was set.
- 5:04And that was for me, completely unbelievable because it was a
- 5:09beautiful day, you know, and the sun was shining through the
- 5:13grounds of the trees and all the lights were dancing on the on
- 5:17the floor of the forest. And there was a huge hall of,
- 5:22of, of tree crowns and, and some stream bubbling there and so on.
- 5:29And, and at the point, I think it was unconsciously, but at the
- 5:36point there normally you have a curtain between yourself and the
- 5:42wood. And at the point, this curtain
- 5:45seemed to to lift up. And I felt like like being the
- 5:51forest myself or the forest be me or one to be one with the
- 5:55birds there and, and all the noises there.
- 6:00And time, time was stood still more or less.
- 6:05And there was a feeling like like this was a very deep
- 6:10spiritual feeling, like there is no question to be asked anymore
- 6:17because all answers are given or something like this.
- 6:21And it's maybe something Buddhist monks would describe or
- 6:27so. And at the end, when I, when I
- 6:31got out out of this wood, I was completely fulfilled with
- 6:35happiness. And that lasted for maybe two or
- 6:37three days. And actually, I would say when I
- 6:41came out of the water, I was a bow maker.
- 6:45When I came out of the forest, I was, I was a bow maker.
- 6:49And it lasted, of course, a few years to to to get there, to
- 6:53really get there. With the mindset, it was
- 6:56completely clear that this would be one future of mine.
- 7:03How long ago was that, Eric? That is 15 years ago now.
- 7:09OK. And I started to carve my flat
- 7:13in Vienna. And we also have a house here
- 7:17in, in Brightfield because it's a little farmhouse, because my,
- 7:22my mother is born here, was born here and there was a shed next
- 7:27to it. And at some point, maybe two
- 7:31years later, I think was it 2 years or three years, the shed
- 7:37that was completely filled with rotten wood was hit by a, by
- 7:43lightning and burned down within three hours or so.
- 7:49And then we built it up and that's my workshop now.
- 7:52So it was good luck actually. Wow, I see you have lots of
- 7:59staves above you. Yeah.
- 8:00Yeah, lot of, lots of. Do you?
- 8:05Where do you find your staves? Do you harvest them yourself?
- 8:09Yeah, I try to harvest them myself, but sometimes I've just
- 8:13good luck. I was maybe half a year ago, I
- 8:19all along I saw, I saw a red oak.
- 8:21It's very rare in Austria, actually a big red oak standing
- 8:26in, in a, in a village village next to us.
- 8:32And half a year ago or so I had my, my cats bit into the, the
- 8:41charge of my notebook. And I, I had to go to a town
- 8:45that's quite far away to buy a new charger.
- 8:49And there was a street closed and I had to go another way.
- 8:56And I passed by this, I had to pass by this, these red oaks and
- 9:01they were cut down at this moment where I passed by.
- 9:04Then I got off, got off out of the car and asked the guys if I
- 9:11could have the wood. And now I have lots of red oak
- 9:15as well. I don't know how how the wood
- 9:19behaves because it's not dry, but I'm very curious about that.
- 9:25So that's that's one of the stories how how I get to my wood
- 9:30sometimes for the first I would. For the first bow that you
- 9:35carved in the workshop, what kind of wood were you?
- 9:38Working it was it was a black locust bow.
- 9:41It was a quite was a long bow with slightly curves and and
- 9:47black locust. Do you still have that bow?
- 9:51Yeah, of course. Yeah, it's like a holy bow for.
- 9:55Me. I wouldn't change anything in
- 9:57it, I would build bows in another way now but with my
- 10:02experience. But this bow will not be touched
- 10:05again. Maybe repay you still?
- 10:08Shoot with that bow. No, no, because I've had the
- 10:13bows actually now. Yeah.
- 10:17So you had a teacher in that workshop who helped you carve
- 10:20that black locust bow. Have you had other teachers
- 10:23since then? Yeah, I had a lot of teachers in
- 10:26in Austria and Germany. Last one was was somebody who
- 10:31who came from Japan. He's he was Kanchuro Shibata.
- 10:37He's a homemaker of the Japanese 10 O in the 21st generation.
- 10:43And I, I made a kudo bow on the course with him that was quite
- 10:46interesting. And that was also the last
- 10:49course I attended because afterwards I I thought to myself
- 10:54I don't really need it anymore. Yes.
- 10:59Are you carving bows full time? No, no, I have a main shop in
- 11:04Vienna. I'm I'm actually urban planner.
- 11:08It's very demanding and I do this during the weekend.
- 11:13On weekends I'm I'm often invite, fit, land and make both.
- 11:18That's what and. You said earlier that you took
- 11:23some time off to do some painting.
- 11:25You're a painter. No, no, I, I sometime I I'm
- 11:30interested in painting and but I'm not really a painter.
- 11:34When I when I was young, I, I, I had a few thoughts about to be
- 11:40painter maybe, but and it's nice.
- 11:44I do both painting now. That's what I do actually, in
- 11:48painting. You do painting on your bows.
- 11:50Yeah, sometimes if it comes to Native American bows, for
- 11:54example, I would do it. Yeah.
- 11:58So when you're making bows now, are you making them for yourself
- 12:02or are you making them mostly for customers?
- 12:04Also for customers but I don't do a lot because I haven't got
- 12:08so much time. I maybe I finish 234 bows a year
- 12:13and I see what happens some, some, some, some sometimes
- 12:17people want me to, to build both of them.
- 12:20Sometimes I have a bow to, to sell and so on.
- 12:23And I do a lot of new bows. I don't want to do the same bow
- 12:28all over the time because I'm I've like like a scientific
- 12:33interest in in doing different things when it comes to to go
- 12:38making. What have been some of your
- 12:41favorite styles of bows to make? What I do is for example, to to
- 12:49try to build composite bows like Ottoman or or Maggia bows, so
- 12:57that these are for Mongolian bows, which are no matter step
- 13:00step bows actually for mounted archery.
- 13:05And what I do a lot is like a like a bit of research in, in
- 13:14for prehistoric post, because there is there are a lot of
- 13:19posts of in, in, in there are a lot of posts in European museums
- 13:27from Copper Age and Bronze Age and Iron Age and so on.
- 13:32And what I do is I try to also to to digitally analyse them and
- 13:38it's what I find very interesting.
- 13:43And sometimes I make them I do also then then physical replicas
- 13:48of these bows. OK.
- 13:50Are the composite bows that you make?
- 13:52Are those horn bows? Horn bows, yeah is a bows with
- 13:56the core with wooden core and senior backing and and horn
- 14:01bellies. And what kind of horn?
- 14:06A Buffalo horn. I use Buffalo.
- 14:09What do you use? What do you use for the core?
- 14:13It's different. I also I tried Elmwood for
- 14:17example, but you can also use Acer or something you can.
- 14:22And those take a while to make. How long does it take you to
- 14:25make a hornbow? This is very long because there
- 14:28is a lot of. You do a lot of times where
- 14:33where you have to wait till till seen you tries and and so on.
- 14:37So it's it's mostly more than a year for a home.
- 14:44And I've shot only one or two horn bows.
- 14:49Incredible bows. How?
- 14:50How do you enjoy shooting them? It's I've one nearly finished
- 14:56and it was really great to shoot it.
- 14:57It's a fine, fine bow. It's quite fast and easy to draw
- 15:03and and also quite accurate. I loved it.
- 15:07Yeah, I look forward to seeing your collection.
- 15:13When did you start your business?
- 15:16Sparrow Bows Is is your name correct?
- 15:19Yeah. So it's not, not not a real
- 15:22business actually, because it's like semi professional and I
- 15:27don't have to, to earn money with it.
- 15:32But it started actually when it started, started with my
- 15:36Instagram account, which which I started when I went to to an
- 15:44assessment centre with my daughter because she applied to
- 15:49for his for, for an art school. And she was very nervous and I
- 15:54made fun out of it and told her she she should make an Instagram
- 15:58account for me. And that, that was all with all
- 16:02this cookery and, and, and all the things that, that happening
- 16:05in, in Instagram. And, and when I had this account
- 16:09with a completely strange name, I started to look out for, for
- 16:16porn making. And, and then I saw there's,
- 16:18there's this, there's a scene on Instagram.
- 16:22And that was few years ago. And my my daughter passed her
- 16:27passed her assessments and could it could make this cool.
- 16:31It was the other effect of. What?
- 16:36Where did the name Sparrow come from?
- 16:39Sparrow bows. When I when we built up this
- 16:45shed again that was burnt down, there was there was some some
- 16:50some birds nesting in there. They just flew in because all
- 16:56the doors were open and, and it would, it was a family of red
- 17:02stars actually. And I saw them dying because it
- 17:06was very hot and they had no, no water and, and the babies fell
- 17:11down on the floor. And I, I couldn't help them.
- 17:14And that was a point where I swore to myself to to help these
- 17:18birds when my workshop is finished and afterwards I hang
- 17:23up a lot of bird houses around here, really maybe four or five,
- 17:29but no rates that's moved in, but just sparrows and they are
- 17:35leaving your aunt here now and now.
- 17:37How do they get along with your cats?
- 17:39Because I've noticed in your Instagram.
- 17:42Photos not so, not so well maybe, but sparrows are quite
- 17:46quite fast sometimes. Sometimes I find feathers and we
- 17:51also thought about to lock up our cats when when the the
- 17:58babies come of the birds, but. Yeah, how many cats do you have?
- 18:022. OK my daughter loves cats so she
- 18:06enjoys she. Can look forward because they
- 18:10are really nice and funny cats. So you're on?
- 18:15Did you say you're on a farm? It was is.
- 18:18It's a former farm, actually. My my grant, my my grandparents,
- 18:26they had a small farm with maybe 2 cows, cows and a pig and then
- 18:30some, some duck and and and chicken and so on but not much
- 18:35and a little bit of of acres and so on.
- 18:44And well, from what I've seen from the photographs, it looks
- 18:46beautiful. Yeah, it's nice, Absolutely
- 18:49nice. Yeah.
- 18:51And we have a great field. Yeah.
- 18:55Sorry, how long were you carving bows before you started to carve
- 19:00them for others or started to sell them?
- 19:03So actually maybe 10 years or 12 years because I don't, I don't
- 19:10do a lot And I, I don't my, my, my, my research or my, my work
- 19:19on, on bows is, is takes a lot of time actually, because I, I
- 19:25need to, need a long time to, to develop prototypes and so on.
- 19:31I'm also very, very, I try to, to make things very perfect.
- 19:39And so, so I'm not not, not, not one of the Pokhavas who make it
- 19:44in in 20 minutes or three hours or, or one day.
- 19:51It's not not my kind of of doing things and.
- 19:56Did you ever intend to sell bows or did people start reaching out
- 20:00to you to to buy your bows? Some some people reach out to
- 20:04buy them, then I sell them and if there is a bow to sell I will
- 20:11publish it on my on my website. Do you remember what your first
- 20:19bow sail was? What type of bow it was?
- 20:22It was a kind of a a Native American bow which was painted.
- 20:28It was was a for a colleague who made it who wanted to have a
- 20:38present for for his ex-girlfriend or girlfriend.
- 20:44And the bow is in Spain now. I think it's in Madrid.
- 20:48It went too, too much read, at least to my mind.
- 20:53So what is your favorite wood to carve with?
- 21:00I like I like a lot of woods very much.
- 21:03I work with the ash and Elm and and also like locust for
- 21:08example. Also a soil or something.
- 21:14I couldn't say I have a favorite wood, but if I would be forced
- 21:18to to to say a name and if I I got bent to A to A to a desert
- 21:24island with one bow would I would choose?
- 21:29Elm. Maybe.
- 21:31Elm. OK, I've never worked with Elm.
- 21:37We're going to what? What kind of bow are we going to
- 21:39make when I'm there? I would I would prefer to to
- 21:44make a replica of prehistoric bow if you if you like and I
- 21:50have something in mind because but I I don't know.
- 21:53We can do something different as well if you like.
- 21:57It will also depend on the wood we find and and what what will
- 22:00what fits to the wood you you will choose.
- 22:06But I'm I'm ready for anything. Really.
- 22:09OK, because I, I wanted to, to, to make a bow form for my, to
- 22:13make a new bow for myself, which should be a hybrid design
- 22:17between a home regard and the man design and the long design
- 22:23that what I wanted to build for me.
- 22:24And, and it also happened that I saw a prehistoric bow now that
- 22:32was a replica on Instagram and that I would that is very
- 22:37similar to this. It's the phrase bow that was
- 22:41found in Denmark to my mind, and it's very similar design to to a
- 22:46omegaard under mane hybrid bow. And so we, we can try this one.
- 22:54It would be interesting. I'm actually sounds.
- 22:58Good to me. I'm actually, so I, I, I will do
- 23:02such a bow for me. Maybe we can do it together.
- 23:07Yes, that sounds good. What type of tools do you use
- 23:13for carving bows? Which tools OK, drawing knives
- 23:20or carving, carving knives and and scrapers and hoof rasps and
- 23:28and I think it's not different to to to anybody who.
- 23:36Mostly hand tools. Mostly hand tools.
- 23:39I just, I don't like to, to, to build bows with electric tools.
- 23:47So mostly it's, it's hand craft. What, what I maybe what's
- 23:52important for me is a sliding caliper because I measure a lot.
- 23:56It's very important for me to make it really perfect.
- 23:59It's blood and tears Sometimes, you will see.
- 24:04And when you're using the calipers and and measuring for
- 24:07it to be perfect, is that when you're creating a replica bow or
- 24:11is that for any? Of your because I want to
- 24:13compare because I want to compare what what my digital
- 24:17digital models say and and what what really what what the
- 24:22outcome is is at the end and yeah that's that's quite
- 24:28interesting and and it's also because you know you have these
- 24:32these unique shooting experience from prehistoric pose if they
- 24:40are real good replicas otherwise it's just another bow and I to
- 24:47my mind you you feel it because. Sorry.
- 24:52Go ahead to to my mind, you feel it.
- 24:53You feel a difference because they are they are something
- 24:56else. It's it's very, very
- 24:58interesting. I will show you with the digital
- 25:02model, digital model that I will show you with the digital models
- 25:07I, I do how they are vibrating. It's little bit else, something
- 25:13else than than this stiff handled post that we are used in
- 25:19also in the self post scene. And it's it's quite unique
- 25:25experience to shoot a good replica.
- 25:30What are the digital models? The digital models is, is, is a
- 25:36software where you can you can digitally rebuild these bows and
- 25:45you can shoot an arrow, an imaginary arrow and you'll see
- 25:49how how the limbs vibrate and you'll see the distribution of
- 25:54tension all the way after release.
- 25:58And that's really very interesting and and also quite
- 26:03important because because if you have limbs that vibrate a lot
- 26:07afterwards, this is all energy that's not on the arrow when
- 26:10it's has left. Do you understand is this?
- 26:14Software. Is this software that's
- 26:17available or is it something you've created?
- 26:19No, I haven't created. It's available in the Internet.
- 26:22It's virtual bow. What's it called?
- 26:27Virtual Bow. That's the moment of the app.
- 26:31Interesting. OK.
- 26:33And do you do that for every bow that you make?
- 26:37Recently, yes, the last two or three years and also for, for
- 26:40bows I'll never make because I built most, most as most of the
- 26:45bows that that are in that are owned by the European museums.
- 26:51Because there is, there is a book with meshes of all these
- 26:56posts of very many of these posts.
- 26:59And I I digitally built them, built them and looked at all
- 27:10these all of these posts. Fascinating.
- 27:16Now you've mentioned the European museums, we're going to
- 27:19be travelling around a lot. Are there any museums that you
- 27:22recommend for seeing archery collections?
- 27:27I would go to Copenhagen in the National Museum because there's
- 27:31the homeguard boat. It's the oldest.
- 27:34There's a red start flying hot side.
- 27:36Funny, I see it throwing, throwing the window now.
- 27:44No, Yeah, in Copenhagen you'll see the homeguard boat.
- 27:49It's 9000 years old. And it's, it's a really, really
- 27:55outstanding experience to see this.
- 27:57It's very short and very thick and very wide.
- 28:01And it must have been very heavy.
- 28:03And I think they are quite underestimated actually also by
- 28:08scientists or archaeologists. I think they were really heavy
- 28:14both because the people were not so tall as we are, but they were
- 28:20much stronger than we are. And they had real, real deep
- 28:27knowledge about bow making and and also about hunting and so
- 28:31on. What type of drawaway do you
- 28:35think they pulled? That's different, but but many
- 28:39of them would be around £100, maybe a bit less, maybe a bit
- 28:47more. And it also depends on the wood,
- 28:50on the E model of the wood, how much energy wood can store.
- 28:57But it's quite obvious that they are stronger than than than many
- 29:02of of of the scientists at the moment believe the.
- 29:08The Home Guard Bulls are traditionally made of Elmwood.
- 29:11Is that correct? Yeah.
- 29:13It's changed at the at the time to to you.
- 29:17They're the beginning, lots of of findings in in Elmwood
- 29:24because the vegetation in Europe changed and then you'll find a
- 29:28lot of you afterwards in Iron Age, for example.
- 29:33OK, and you've made some Home Guard bows, I presume?
- 29:38No, I didn't. You know, the Home Guard bow is
- 29:41something else that people's that people, the Holmegat bow is
- 29:50something else then then people say it, it, it would be, yeah.
- 29:54You see a lot of a lot of of bows where people say it's a
- 29:59Holmegat bow, but it's nothing to do with the Holmegat bow
- 30:02actually, because Holmegat bow is something is a different
- 30:06design. You know, most, mostly people
- 30:12say Holmegat bow to a design that's actually a Molagabe
- 30:16design, for example, with very thin outer limbs and so on and
- 30:23all. My God was just the beginning of
- 30:25this this development of constructing pose.
- 30:31And it you said it was thick that it not have thin outer
- 30:33limbs. Not, not that much.
- 30:38Not that much. That that that it's believed.
- 30:41Yeah, there's a there's you want one limb has a shoulder and it
- 30:47gets narrow afterwards, but it's not a really thin limb.
- 30:50If you see the bow, it's completely different.
- 30:53It's really massive bow. And are there many artifacts of
- 30:58that particular bow, or is it primarily the one that's in?
- 31:02Copenhagen of this boat there there are a lot of artifacts of
- 31:08of this boat type. But the Holmegat bow is a
- 31:10special boat type which was found in Holmegat.
- 31:14If they found a few bows there that are quite similar, but not
- 31:22not not not very they've they've got these these narrow outer
- 31:27limbs. It occurred later then.
- 31:34OK. Any other museums that you
- 31:37recommend in Europe? Maybe.
- 31:40I think you could have good luck if you go to Anaheim.
- 31:45Do you go to Anaheim to to? Yeah, I think in Anaheim, I
- 31:50think maybe they're in the museum Museum, maybe they have
- 31:55some kind of of post there you could have a look at.
- 31:59But I don't know for sure. I don't want to say anything
- 32:03wrong. That's all right.
- 32:04That'll be a convenient one for us to stop into.
- 32:08Don't think we're going to make it to Copenhagen unfortunately
- 32:10on this trip. But I don't know if you go to V
- 32:13to Vienna, there are a lot of bows in Vienna, but but not
- 32:16really, really Stone Age bows. But there is a museum that has a
- 32:21lot of an ethnographic museum that has a lot of bows.
- 32:26OK, from different cultures. It's also interesting.
- 32:32All right. Try to check some of those out.
- 32:37So you mentioned back in the beginning when you went into the
- 32:41forest and and you were shooting in the 3D course and really you
- 32:45came out of Bowyer. How has the experience been for
- 32:50you being a Bowyer? Has it been fulfilling?
- 32:54Has it, has it given you more than you could have expected?
- 32:59Can you talk a little bit about that?
- 33:03I think it, it was where this, this, this experience changed my
- 33:08life a lot because bow making then was, was part of my life
- 33:13that that helped me a lot to, to, to get back into my track
- 33:19because I've a very demanding job in Vienna.
- 33:23And you need something that that holds you up also in, in, in a
- 33:29spiritual way and then into into other ways than than your job
- 33:35does. Of course, I've been very
- 33:37interesting job. I'm an urban planner, but it's
- 33:41also a job where where developments occur in, in a time
- 33:46span from 20 or 30 years of 20 or 30 years.
- 33:51So you don't ever see anything finished and everything is in,
- 33:56in a, in a continuing process. And so you, you, you, you don't
- 34:02have this, this, this experience where, where you, you, where you
- 34:06are, where you are happy that you, that you finished
- 34:11something. Actually, it's, and if I go to,
- 34:17to, to my workshop at the, at the weekend, I have something to
- 34:21hold in my hands and I, I can smell it and I can, can work on
- 34:26it. And at the point that it's
- 34:27finished and, and I can shoot it and you have this, this deep
- 34:32happiness, then it's very different, different to my, to
- 34:39my, to my chop in, in Vienna. Yeah, and do you enjoy shooting
- 34:45the bows as much as you make them as archery?
- 34:48I like it, but I'm not but I'm not I I don't go tournaments for
- 34:52for example, because you, you have to shoot a lot to shoot
- 34:55good. And so if so, so the the bow
- 35:00making is much more important for me.
- 35:07And what about your children? Are they interested at all in in
- 35:11the bow making? Maybe.
- 35:12Maybe I took them to the woods too much.
- 35:16The the biggest of them, I have three children.
- 35:19He he's maybe 25 now and he would shoot if I go with him, he
- 35:26would. But the other son aren't
- 35:29interested anymore. They one is, is a musician.
- 35:33He's guitarist, he guitarist and the my daughter is more in the
- 35:39art world and design world and she's not not interested at all
- 35:44in this. OK.
- 35:47Her boyfriend maybe he shot, he shot the Ottoman bow wife that
- 35:55unfortunately broke later, but but he shot it and it was very
- 35:58fine to shoot and he loved it. Do you enjoy the historical
- 36:05research of the bows and how they were made?
- 36:08That's that's interesting because because I think
- 36:12cooperation with Stone Age Bose is, is also on Instagram and and
- 36:16very talented. Simon in Germany.
- 36:21Simon in Germany. No, he's, he's no, no Stone Age
- 36:25Bose. He's Axel Linderhorn and he's
- 36:29he's very good as well and with some kind of cooperation because
- 36:33I have no, not so much time to make Bose.
- 36:37And when and often when I made a digital model, for example, for
- 36:42the two prick wing 2 print wing pose or all my guard pose or
- 36:48whatever, I made a model and he replicated it and we could
- 36:53compare it then. And so I could, I could improve
- 36:58my prognosis for the, for the draw weights because the digital
- 37:03model does only no rectangle cross sections and the
- 37:11prehistoric bows don't have rectangle this, this, this clear
- 37:15rectangle cross sections actually because they've rounded
- 37:21bags, for example, some other things.
- 37:25So, so the what, what comes out by the when I, when I'm doing
- 37:32this digital model, it's not always the same which comes out
- 37:38when when you make the bow. But now I can, I can actually,
- 37:48I've, I've found a way hard to, to, to, to deal with it.
- 37:52So I can make quite a good prognosis of control weight.
- 38:02So you collaborate with Axel then on many of your bows A.
- 38:08Few. I think he made 4-5 or six bows.
- 38:12I modelled before and then he built it and then we compared.
- 38:16That was quite interesting. And how do you know him?
- 38:21Is that only through bow making that you've come to know?
- 38:23Him. Yeah, it's just just just
- 38:25Instagram, actually. OK, so you've never met.
- 38:29Instagram friendship? No, we we never.
- 38:33There are a few people on Instagram I I'm discussing with
- 38:37and I never met. I don't know if I know his his
- 38:41work so I'm going to check him out afterwards.
- 38:43Where is he based? I think in Netherlands, but he's
- 38:47actually from Sweden. I think so.
- 38:53OK. Do you collaborate with other
- 38:54Bowers as well? More and more, not, not as not
- 39:00not intensively on concrete bows, but I have a quite, quite
- 39:09nice relationship with Paul Comstock, for example.
- 39:13I don't know if you know him. I know the name, I've never met
- 39:17about. Communicated with one of the
- 39:18these one of my idols, these these superheroes of the 90s
- 39:23who. One of the authors.
- 39:26Of the. Computational Bowyers Bible.
- 39:28Yeah, yeah, exactly. And and he also wrote, wrote the
- 39:31bandstick and he's a great guy. He's like, like a walking
- 39:37encyclopedia for for archery books.
- 39:41And then he knows a lot and, and shares a lot and, and we, we
- 39:45exchanged zillions of, of, of messages.
- 39:48And it's really, it's also funny with him and he's also, I see
- 39:52him as a mentor and meanwhile also as a friend.
- 39:55I, I wouldn't know if he, I don't know if he would agree,
- 39:59but but sometimes he's a, he was a big part of my life because.
- 40:06Is he still carving both? Yeah, and he makes really,
- 40:10really nice both his both are very pure and and like they're
- 40:15really shining from within. It's it's.
- 40:18Really I have to look into I haven't seen his work either.
- 40:20Is he on social media or I have a website?
- 40:22He's on Instagram as well. On the band stick you find him
- 40:28but the band stick is is the book he wrote and there's also
- 40:32an Instagram address also also private account but he's no
- 40:41homepage to my mind. Yes, OK, great.
- 40:47Well, it's important to have mentors and teachers and that's,
- 40:51you know, that's helped to guide a lot of, of bowyers out there
- 40:55today and others have worked on their own and and learned from
- 41:00their mistakes over the years. It's do.
- 41:03You teach. Do you teach or mentor others?
- 41:07Yes, not not a lot, but but I, I had quite a few, quite a few
- 41:11people who who who I teach bow making.
- 41:17There is a a good friend now. He built the first bow in my
- 41:22workshop here and he's a very, very good bow maker.
- 41:26Now he's he's but he he does this glass fiber, glass fiber
- 41:31pose, but he makes excellent pose that's really great.
- 41:38Do you teach workshops? Do you like formally?
- 41:41Teach or is it just I teach workshops?
- 41:45Actually, if somebody is interested to come here like you
- 41:50are, then I would teach 234 days course at the three or four
- 41:59days. Do you schedule courses or do
- 42:02you just do it when people reach out to you by?
- 42:05By demand if somebody asks. By demand, yeah.
- 42:10And do you enjoy it? Yeah, I like it.
- 42:13It's it's it's nice because you haven't so much work but the
- 42:17outcome is you have done 3 or 4 balls at the same time and less
- 42:23work to do. Yeah.
- 42:27But of course it's. It's work too.
- 42:31And do you have any, any, any plans in the future, any types
- 42:36of bows you're going to make or anything that you're bow, bow
- 42:39making related that you have planned?
- 42:42Yeah, I want to finish a few composite bows and start new
- 42:45ones because I learn a lot and and, and I want to do it in a
- 42:52better way then of course. And I would also make more
- 42:57prehistoric bows. Not to my mind and trying trying
- 43:05different types of them and. You're always experimenting with
- 43:09new types, aren't you? Yeah, yeah, that's that's very
- 43:12interesting. I don't want to be a it it it
- 43:15makes no sense to me to to make always the same or to be a 1
- 43:20trick pony. It's, it's interesting obviously
- 43:25to to, to research and to, to have a look what, what, what is
- 43:29possible actually with short pose, with long pose, with
- 43:33recurved or not recurved pose, 1 pose.
- 43:38It's interesting. Well, your work looks absolutely
- 43:43beautiful and I'm very honored that you've agreed to be part of
- 43:49our Project Quiver and part of the book.
- 43:52And I really look forward to learning from you directly and
- 43:56my daughter to be able to take some of those photos of your
- 43:58beautiful bows. It's going to be amazing.
- 44:02I'm looking forward as well. I I think we will have a nice
- 44:05time with also good time and I think you we have 4 days here
- 44:13and that we will be to make it fine to my mind.
- 44:17Yeah, and I'm excited to see the the countryside where you live.
- 44:21Yeah, it looks absolutely beautiful.
- 44:24It's nice here. Well, thank you for sitting down
- 44:28with me today, Eric. Where can people learn more
- 44:31about what you're doing, your website, your Instagram?
- 44:34Can you give those details? Instagram is is Sparrow Bose
- 44:37like the Sparrow bird and also on
- 44:41www.pointsparrowbose.80ihaveawebsite where you can check out my boss.
- 44:52Great. I'll put those in the show notes
- 44:55and anything else you want to add before we sign off.
- 45:00No, it's thank you for for the nice and pleasant meeting.
- 45:04Thank you. I hope it's.
- 45:06I hope my English is understandable.
- 45:10It's been great and very informative.
- 45:12Really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
- 45:23Thanks for listening to Project Quiver on Salish Wolf.
- 45:26Follow our journey on Instagram at Project Quiver as we seek out
- 45:30the world's most extraordinary traditional boat years and join
- 45:33our newsletter at projectquiver.com.
- 45:36Our coffee table book, Quiver, The Art of Life through Bow
- 45:39Craft, arrives in 2026. We are honored to share with you
- 45:43the beauty, history, and magic of traditional archery.