Latest / Salish Wolf / #73 Lubo Sojak on Project Quiver

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#73 Lubo Sojak 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 Bow Craft and this
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journey, our living story is Project Quiver.
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OK Lupo soyok. Cool.
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Well thank you for doing this and I know this isn't English
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isn't your first language but be nice to get to know you and have
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a good conversation. Where are you based?
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I'm in Slovakia, that is like right in the middle of the
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Europe. And have you been there your
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whole life? Yes.
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And you reached out to me with some suggestions for some bow
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ears and to interview, and I had already known some about your
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work, so obviously you were a very skilled boy yourself.
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When did you get into archery? Let's start with that.
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OK, I need to correct it because I don't call myself an Archer
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because I just making both and actually that's the first thing.
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And to be able to test it, you need to learn how to shoot and
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to be an Archer. So more or less to be an Archer
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is just a just a second project by working on or working with
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wood and making bows. So, but it started, yes.
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Did you begin as a Boyer then? Yes, I've had the first bow that
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I shot. OK, that was the second one.
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The first one was a bow made by my friend, but actually like it
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was like one or two arrows. And then the I started to be the
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archery just with myself. Made bow about 10 years ago,
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maybe 12. OK.
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And what got you into that? Actually, maybe that was exactly
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the one situation I was visiting my friend and we actually made
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or have been planning to make a trip in, in Finland because he
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was studying there and he made a bowl, his bowl in Finland, I
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think, or he learned it there and he got one or two bows at
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his property at his home. So as have we been planning our
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trip to Finland, he said OK, I got the ball there and we can
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shoot it. Like to enjoy the time, buy
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coffee or like it was, I don't know what time that was, but
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that was actually my first experience with the ball and he
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made it. Actually I wouldn't made it that
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way like he did, because now I understand the physics and where
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needs to be more or less wood and actually that the ball was
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like 2 meters long, heavy like hell and maybe 25 lbs or 30
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maximum. Yeah, what kind of word did he
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make it with? I don't know maybe how to say I
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think it was Ash or it was a board bowl.
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It wasn't a self bowl like mate, yeah what we do or what I do,
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but it was a board bowl from Ash probably.
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And so that experience must have been significant for you though.
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Somehow, somehow it was. I don't know.
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Many, many people ask me how I came to archery or why, who
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taught me that or where did I found the information or how it
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started. If I started like when I was 10
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or if my father showed me that and I just asked no, no.
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And actually I just cut. I think the first one was a
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Hazel stave and just started to make a bow.
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Yeah. And was that after that
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experience? Yes.
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Yes, I think yes, that is X approximately 10 or 12 years.
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Last time in August there was a pop up from my Facebook that you
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got memory well for 10 years ago and that was in Finland.
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So somewhere at the time I was at his property planning that
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trip and I shot the ball the first time.
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Yeah. So archery to you is still not
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as important as bow making, is that right?
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I have to say unfortunately yes, because sometimes I'm I'm
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struggling to hit the target. I think we all did.
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Well, some of us do. I do, yeah.
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And of course, it's always different with every bow that we
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make too, because, well, these are primitive bows, they're self
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bows. And it's very different than
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shooting with a modern bow where everything is kind of laser
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focused. So there's always, always room
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for missing the target, yeah. I hate the question, how do you
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make it or how do you hit the target?
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When I hit it with a ball that it's already been in my hands
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like one of mine that I'm training with or I'm trying to
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shoot it in like we've obviously say.
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So I made an exhibition last year, maybe it was in May, we
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have in our village just some markets and I was asked, I don't
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want to show the children how to shoot.
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I told yes, but maybe a few of them already shot a bow, but I
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think it was a weather compound or like Olympic reflex bow.
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And it was hard to show them that how I aim because I'm doing
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the primitive style or instinctive shoot, instinctive
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theory. And I just say to them, I just
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look at the target and not release the arrow.
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But it's hard to say. Yeah, that's that's pretty much
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what I do too. Just look small, like exactly
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where you want it to go, and if it misses then adjust the next
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time. Yes, if you shoot to the right,
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then try to shoot to the left. Exactly.
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So how many bows are you making? Is this well, is this a hobby or
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is this a profession for you? We'll start with that.
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No, it's a hobby. It's like what you see is my
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father's garage and it is my workspace here.
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And most of the time in the evenings or during the rainy
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days and cold days, because I'm a roofer, I'm working on the
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roofs. So that's my job.
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And making bows is just a hobby or doing for fun, or just stay,
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stay sharp and still working with my hands.
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OK, so how many bows do you make typically on in a year?
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How to say maybe 10 I break 5 maybe so then 15 or maybe there
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have been some years maybe during the corona that I've got
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my boss to the Internet more shove them on on Facebook and
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there have been some some people asking for both.
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Then maybe then I made like 10 boss during the winter and
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another 10 during the year when I had time to do it or had
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enough of wood. But maybe from 10 to 15 in a
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year. But some sell.
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Yeah, you sell some of them then?
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Yeah I already sold a few bowls but it's just a hobby so maybe I
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sell them or I use it to to a good gift for my friends.
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I maybe gave 5 bowls to my friends that they had a birthday
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like 40 or 50 or 30. So that was a good occasion to
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show up and OK, here's a handmade bow and they have been
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happy so. Yeah, I'm happy, of course.
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Good. What does it give to you, making
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bows? Like what?
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What keeps you doing it? I don't want to sound like
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philosophically or something like that, but so many years.
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Ago that way, so don't worry about.
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It no, it's hard to say, but when you are alone and just
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trying to to apply your knowledge or apply what you saw
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on the Internet and make something from that idea by
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using just your hands is it's something different because I've
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I've I've made our I had many jobs and none of the none of
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them was giving me the opportunity to to use my
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fantasy, to use my knowledge and to use or to learn from my own
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failures if I pronounced it correctly.
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So it's something different that it's hard to explain me in my in
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my English, but it's something that put me in a certain
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position in a certain position. Like I found peace in that.
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Sometimes I'm really nervous when I break a bow.
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I would smash everything around me.
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But OK, I'm, I'm still learning and that's, that's maybe
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something different than if it would be my job or had to be
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more careful and to be more precise in that way that I'm
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doing it like for fun and just to learn from my failures and to
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learn something new. Then it's it's bringing me like
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fun. Yes, it's fun sometimes not, but
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most of it, it's fun. And if someone asks me now,
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because maybe 5-7 years ago I was just asking people on the
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Internet and now when I found out that OK, I have already a
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knowledge and my that is the that is my knowledge that I
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found out. And to be able to share it
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between people, it brings me fun and maybe also self-confidence.
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Is it the correct word? Yes, it's something different
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now, like when I was 10 years younger, asking for help and for
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instructions or to had to do it by myself.
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And then you find out that people are asking already you.
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So it putting you in different positions.
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So it it it gave me that that I have more self-confidence about
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what I do. So and it brings me fun and
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sometime when when I can share it, then it's also a already
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communication channel because I'm in contact with you, you are
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from Canada and I'm also in contact with many other boyers
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from America or from Europe. And it's different how the way
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was from my beginning into that, that I share my knowledge or
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someone from Austria, from Germany or from America or
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Canada, say you did a good job or you've done a good job, then
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it's I'm rising, you know? Yes, that's a great community.
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It really is amazing to be part of it all over this globe,
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global. Everyone is so generous.
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It's strange somehow. Also AI told me that something
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in the way. Don't worry, the people who are
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making bows are are in the way that they are good and they can
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wait until the that I explain myself and that they are cool
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and they will help me and that stuff.
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So I don't know how. I don't know.
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Yeah. What's the culture in Slovakia
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like for archery and film making?
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Actually, when I started, I didn't know that there are so
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many groups of Bowers or Archers grouping around castles and most
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of them are fans or are replicating the Mediterranean
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style or the era of 1500 and that stuff.
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Most of them they are asking or they are talking and using the
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English longbows or something like that, but.
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They are. Yes, I would say that maybe in
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the bigger cities there are at least a one or maybe also two
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groups of Archers. OK.
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Have you visited with any other barriers from your country?
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No, I'm actually maybe shy or something.
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I know also there are some competitions in Slovakia and
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most of the groups are making like their their tournaments
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during the year. I was also invited.
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But as I told you by your first or second question, then I don't
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feel like I'm an Archer. I think that would be that would
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be a horror while making on a tournament.
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I don't think it would be good. Yeah, I've never been to a sort
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of. I would like to see one, but
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I've never even seen one, let alone participated in one.
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Yeah, but there are other Bowers then.
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And Slovakia. Yes, actually when I started, I
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have to say that here in Slovakia there was maybe still
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is, but it was overwhelmed by Instagram and Facebook. 12 years
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ago go, I joined a forum, it was actually archery forum and one
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of the rooms was dedicated to bowyers, bow makers or people
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who like to replicate most of the demon that was English long
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bows. And they have been talking about
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it. But I don't know if someone will
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listen to that, but I and my friend Tabor, with which I was
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talking to you about, then we had the same opinion about that
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group. That many people from that forum
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was too precise or everything that is not in a certain way
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directly English Longbow. They said OK, that is not good.
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That English Longbow had to be dead and dead.
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And the diameters, diameter or so should be the same.
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I don't know if I was not. I like feeling the feeling when
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I'm talking to you or someone. When I was communicating or
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chatting with someone else from Facebook groups on that stuff,
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they have been just, they've been very strict, like you need
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to make a boat that way and that way.
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That told me actually that Hazel is not a good wood bowl, that I
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wouldn't do it with Self with Hazel or you shouldn't use it.
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You shouldn't use elderberry, you shouldn't use ash.
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And that's not because it's too weak.
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It's not good for an English Longbow.
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And then I really finished with that group.
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I don't know. I was just sharing my experience
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with the Hazel. I made a Self bowl about 40 lbs.
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It was still a simple stick, but OK, there was a string it was
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shooting arrows in the distance about 100, twenty, 150 meters,
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which was OK think at least. But someone was just looking at
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your at the picture that you posted and just putting it
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upside down. OK, That limb is not really
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correct. That is not a good ball.
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Yeah, that it was a group. So I just left them.
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Someone told me then later than when I was maybe more popular on
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Facebook, that you should join the group and tell the other
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people. And then I said why when I asked
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for help or something that I took just critic from that
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group. If someone wants, they can
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follow me, they can join, they can ask, and I'm really open to
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help anybody. Yeah, but I've just, I've talked
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with a number of lawyers who don't make many English long
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bows because they have had similar experiences, because
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there is that precision and what an English Longbow is.
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And many Bowers don't care, you know what the bow is called.
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They're they're making bows because it's for the love of
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making bows. And of course, that's how
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innovation comes too, is not doing everything exactly the
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same all the time. And so a lot of the Bowers I
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worked with for the upcoming book Quiver, we carved flat
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bows. I think I only carved 2 English
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long bows and 1 hackberry Longbow, which was a similar
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one. But predominantly we were
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carving flat bows, all with variations and different
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different reflexes, different widths, different lengths.
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So a lot more flexibility in those.
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So yeah, I don't know. I don't know what it is about
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the English Longbow that I guess it's the traditional English
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Longbow. So the tradition is there.
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And so the tradition, I guess, needs to be followed to consider
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it an English Longbow. But I, I, I love making bows,
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period. And I love shooting them.
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And whether it's a Longbow or a flat bow, it doesn't doesn't
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matter to me. And actually what what is then
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the worst tradition when we go deeper in the world?
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Why? Why would be a certain thing
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would be called tradition? Because for me, tradition is
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something which is build up from a first step into a bigger step
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and then people will find out what suits them or what is
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better for them, what is better in that location.
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But if you or you how to say that sorry, I think you, you
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know what I mean, that you went around the world and you saw
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many people, you saw many countries and you know that
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there's not a certain wood. The same like in America or in
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Canada? Because I know that there's a
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Pacific U then that EU from English long bows actually came
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then from Spain. So I don't think that each wood
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is the same. I have also the experience
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around 50 kilometers that it's not the same.
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But I don't know when you found an A bowl in some some museum
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and that you will look that the bow is maybe 5000 year old and
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it isn't that the tradition in that particular country or is
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there something else? Because maybe in 10 years you
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will find a bow 2000 years old. And was that exactly?
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And when they will be different, then what is the tradition then
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bow from 2000 of the bow from 5000.
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And I, I, I swear that I think that really in English, like
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when we go 10,000 years before Christ, they probably would
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found a bow that it wouldn't have the dimensions of English
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Longbow or Borbo. I don't think so yeah.
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And when we look into Asia and there's a plenty of countries
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which have similar bows like Mongolia and Assyrian Korean
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bowl, they look the same or at least the same.
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But it's, it's that the tradition or they just used what
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they could use and make the most most functional thing from that.
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I think that's that's the point. I think that's what
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traditionally has been done is using the words that you have
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available and making bows that work with those particular types
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of wood. And also you work for the
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purpose that you're using them for, whether it's hunting or
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warfare or mounted archery, whatever it may be.
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All the bows are going to have different shapes, different
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styles, different woods. Now, what are your favorite
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types of bows to carve them? Do you have anything that's kind
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of emerged to something that you really enjoy carving?
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I maybe go the most simple way because my first ball was some
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kind of American flat ball, let's say maybe 1 metre, 70
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long, 4 centimetres, so 1 1/2 inch wide and just tapering into
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a small tip and that is all. Maybe a bigger handle, maybe
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sometimes a natural handle in the width of the limb.
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I don't know, maybe, maybe simple flat bowl.
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It's easy to make and when you have a good wood, it's, it's
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really simple to do it. You can stay with the width of
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width of your trunk or of the width of your stave and just
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carve the ends, put some nice handle and that's it.
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Maybe that? Do you ever try to carve any of
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the historical bows? Like carve replicas.
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Yes, actually I like the OK, now let's help me.
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It's a Home Guard or it's a molagabbat bow.
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The one with the OK, I know what I sometimes don't know which is
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which is which because the one with the one with the narrow
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ends, like really, really wide limbs.
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And then maybe the third is really, really.
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I think that's the Malaga bet that don't hold me to it, Yeah.
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And that's Mulligan. Yeah, let me check my notes here
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'cause I'm just seeing what I carved in Austria with Phil
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Steinhauser. I carved, yeah, Mulligabet.
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So that has the one that I, I carved with Phil has wide limbs
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for about 2/3 of the limb. And then on the outer third it
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tapers to a a really narrow section.
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Just if it's that is a certain copy of Oriko Bold and I've made
24:25
Molagabbits yeah, 3 or 4, but it's a good design.
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Yes, I know why that why they made it actually.
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Now maybe they didn't had a long enough staves so they choose
24:39
that OK, I have some white parts and I can use it and we'll see
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what will happen when we put a long thin bow ends and it worked
24:51
for me actually, yeah. And then what modifications do
24:55
you like to do? Have you come up with any sort
24:58
of designs that you prefer with reflex or D Flex or any
25:04
particular any particular style? What are we pointing to?
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There's a small reflexible from an all stage orange actually.
25:12
OK, OK. I've started to make curves in
25:16
bows or correct them with the heat like maybe five years ago,
25:21
because first time when I tried it, I was very afraid that I
25:25
will break it or what heat I need to use.
25:29
Because when you searching on the Internet and one will say
25:33
just heat it with a heat gun, The other will say you need to
25:37
put it in a boiling water or you need to steam it.
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Yeah. So I tried every everything I
25:43
steamboats. I use dry heat with a heat gun,
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but the most modification is just correct the bows and make a
25:52
reflex whether if the wood is good like all such orange I use
25:57
triheat and when I'm working with the white woods I use
26:02
steam. I use Steam most of the time.
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Yeah, yeah, I use quite a bit of both steam and I used only, I
26:12
think we only use dry heat on one of the quiver bows and that
26:15
was the juniper bow that I made with Chuck Loffler.
26:20
And the dry heat didn't work. We had to, one of the tips got a
26:25
little crack as we are reflexing it.
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And so we had to not reflex it as much as what we wanted.
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And Chuck kind of thought that might happen because normally he
26:33
uses wet heat, he doesn't normally use dry heat on the
26:35
juniper. So I think it depends on the
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kind of wood that the juniper didn't work very well with with
26:40
dry heat. Yes, maybe that is the other
26:44
thing that you will learn by working with the wood or my
26:48
baking bowls maybe also with other work with the wood, but
26:55
you need to be patient. And most of the bowls that I
26:59
break or did broke was because of my impatience because I I
27:05
knew that I should use, I should use steam.
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But I said to myself, I saw that it worked also with the dry heat
27:15
and the stave was maybe not good carved by me, that maybe I
27:21
didn't. I went through a certain ring so
27:25
it broke or something else. Most of the time you need to be
27:30
patient and to to think about it the what do you want to do or
27:36
what you want from the certain kind of wood or stave.
27:39
And if you misjudge it or you judge it wrong, then it it can
27:46
happen that it will break. It will be just I don't know how
27:50
to say, but I don't know if I can say it, but the pain in the
27:54
ass is said in English. Then there are certain kind of
28:00
rules or both that are really really long term projects and.
28:04
Yeah, I've shed some tears before when some bows have
28:08
broken. Yeah, it's it's pretty.
28:11
Sad more than the time when I break a ball I make a picture
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and send it directly to my wife so she know or weapon.
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It's like you forwarding her to be gentle with you.
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When I when I come back from the workshop, she already broke a
28:31
ball and I'm not a good mood. I love that.
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Do you harvest most of your own wood?
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Not the most, but all of the wood is harvested by myself.
28:46
Yeah, I never, I never bought a stave or I never buy certain
28:52
wood. Always.
28:54
I go and harvested by myself. So I was there a lot of what?
28:57
You could or a small diameter like Hazel or elderberry.
29:03
Everything is by myself. OK.
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Is there a lot of available options in Slovakia or in your
29:08
area? Could be, but you cannot go in a
29:12
public area or any kind of woods and cook and cut anything that
29:18
you want. You need to ask someone or just
29:21
knew someone who is harvesting wood and ask him whether there
29:25
is some ash or whether there could be a some straight black
29:30
locusts, for example. And I already make some mistakes
29:34
that I asked people to cut it for me.
29:37
That was not good. Yeah.
29:40
They think it's straight and without any branches.
29:44
And then you came up with a crooked black locust where you
29:50
hardly split it and it's just two hours of hard work.
29:55
You are completely sweating and you cannot split it because it's
29:59
like twisted 3 or 4 branches we are which are already rot and
30:06
you can put it into a into the fire, Yes.
30:09
So I cut it by myself. What types of what do you prefer
30:13
to use? Before it was most of the bows I
30:21
made it was Hazel or elderberry. Then I tried ash, but somehow
30:28
each of them was spongy or it was like a rubber.
30:33
It didn't it didn't resist the the not the tension.
30:38
It's good intention, but it didn't resist the on the belly,
30:42
you know, in the compression. Yes, yes, thank you.
30:46
But then I found out the black locust.
30:48
I like it very much. But now, OK, let's not talk,
30:54
talk about Osage Orange because because it's not common here.
30:58
So I found just one stave. But Mulberry is my favorite wood
31:04
now. Nice.
31:05
It's really, really good wood. And one time I prepared staves
31:11
from Mulberry, Osage and black locust.
31:15
And then actually I found out that I cannot judge which is
31:19
which. Yes, they are.
31:23
All of them are. Some had a similar colour.
31:27
OK, black locusts supposed to be the most of them, most
31:31
yellowish. Then the Osage orange supposed
31:34
to be orange, but also the Mulberry was orange.
31:38
And when you put a heat gun on it, the colour is very similar.
31:44
So I was not sure and somebody was asking me, Are you sure that
31:48
it's Mulberry? Actually?
31:50
Then I wrote them directly a message.
31:52
I'm not sure I grew that. I'm not sure.
31:55
Sweet. There's a 33% chance it's
31:57
Mulberry. Yes, actually yes.
32:00
But they all of them could be good or were good by making
32:08
reflex by steaming. So it was no difference.
32:14
Most of them were about 45 to 50 lbs at the same length.
32:20
So it was hard to say for me which is better in that case.
32:24
When someone asked me if really Osage Orange is better.
32:27
OK, it's Osage Orange is a different, different kind of
32:31
wood. I don't know where it came from.
32:34
Why is it just in America by you that we don't have it here?
32:38
But it's something different with working with Osage.
32:42
But I think it's not a good start wood to make both.
32:46
Yeah, it's. People start to work with
32:48
something else. I think it's easier.
32:51
Not harder, it's easier. Well, you know, I meant hard as
32:54
an hard. That's a very hard one.
32:56
Yes, yes it is. But Black Rocus here in Slovakia
32:59
is one of the hardest and actually what I found is pretty
33:04
similar, but I'm using that would is that now I will need
33:10
your help. When you need to to support some
33:17
something, then you will hammer it down and make a fence from
33:22
it. Yeah, that the fence is the
33:23
correct word. Yes, it was used.
33:25
By post a fence post. Yeah, and black locust is most
33:28
here used as a fence post too. Yes.
33:31
So it's really similar that the colour is similar actually.
33:35
Also the bark is similar and the wood I think.
33:39
I don't know if biologically is similar, but in that case by
33:43
using that wood it was used similar here in our country to
33:48
black robust. Right.
33:50
Well, it's amazing how many bow woods are commonly used as fence
33:55
posts and that's part of it is because of the the bow woods
34:01
typically are rot resistant as you want with a fence post.
34:05
You don't want a fence post that's going to rot so.
34:09
About any others? What are the others?
34:12
Osage orange is commonly used as a fence post here in Costa Rica.
34:19
What is known as lemon wood or madronio is commonly used as a
34:22
fence post. Pacific U or U can be used as a
34:26
fence post, but U has just been treasured for so long, but it
34:29
still has that rot resistant capability to it.
34:33
So, but yeah, there's, there's a lot of the rot resistant woods
34:37
that have commonly been used as such.
34:40
So it's interesting. But yeah, black locust is great
34:47
because it's, it grows so quickly as well.
34:52
And so it's, it's very commonly, it's abundant in a lot of
34:57
places, It grows in so many areas.
34:59
And in many cases it's kind of seen as an invasive.
35:03
And so it's people want to take it down.
35:05
So it's really good to have. The same here is actually an
35:09
invasive plant. So it's it's not that bad when
35:13
you cut when you cut some down, but you still need to ask
35:17
someone or to check if the wood will be used by someone else or
35:21
by by the state or by someone that is in law to cut it.
35:26
Yeah, but. Yeah.
35:29
Oh, and another one for another word for fencepost is laburnum
35:33
has been often used as fencepost.
35:35
So yeah, laburnum is called golden chain, the yellow flowers
35:43
that hang down from it. Yeah, so and I, and I think
35:48
it's, I think it's even more than that, but I, I guess it's,
35:51
it is because it's the rot resistant aspect of the wood
35:55
that is used in fence post. So it's a lot of fence posts out
35:58
there that could be turned into both staves.
36:02
Maybe that's another aspect of why people use it, because I
36:08
think many, many years ago when you make a bow and you're trying
36:14
to feed your family with it or to get meat, then you won't make
36:20
any month a bowl because it broke or it was not resistant
36:26
against rot or or wet conditions.
36:28
So maybe people used to check the woods and which is better
36:33
and then use it for both after they were sure that it's
36:37
resistant. Maybe that was for the history
36:39
about it. Yeah.
36:41
And then Mulberry. I haven't worked with Mulberry,
36:43
but it's in the same family as Osage Orange, So they do have a
36:47
lot of similarities, but I've heard good things about
36:50
Mulberry. I made maybe 5 balls and each of
36:55
them was like really nice to work with, really nice smell of
37:00
the wood because that's strange. I also, I always smell to the
37:04
wood I make even when I carve it or when I put a heat gun on it
37:09
that I just want to make corrections.
37:12
And then I, I'm running to, to smell the wood.
37:16
And therefore I maybe most of them like the Hazel because it's
37:20
like when you are roasting nuts on a plate.
37:25
Does it smell like that? Yeah.
37:27
It does. Yeah, I can really.
37:29
Yeah. Yes.
37:31
And then, yeah, I, I agree with what you said about Osage versus
37:37
black locust, how it's one of the bowyers I worked with Nacho
37:41
Marco in Spain talks about how black locust has been his best
37:45
teacher because although it's a very similar wood, it creates
37:49
very similar bows to Osage. It's not as good under
37:52
compression and so Tillering it is a lot more challenging people
37:57
find in Tillering Osage, which is much for the giving.
38:00
And so Nacho has found that that's been an incredible
38:03
teaching tool for him to work with a lot of black locust and
38:08
learn from his mistakes. It's better than learn from
38:13
yourself, from your mistakes. Yeah.
38:16
There's a saying, there's a saying that intelligent people
38:24
learning from their own mistakes, but the really smart
38:30
people are learning from mistakes of other people.
38:33
Yep, a smart. 1 So in your area where you live, you're basically
38:43
asking people when you find potential trees, you're asking
38:47
them if you can take branches or or cut it down.
38:51
If it's actually we have a law here when you cut not a big tree
38:57
and you you can cut Hazel like anytime you want.
39:01
I think the small of it is under 7 centimeters.
39:05
And here is a law that if you want also wood from yourself to
39:12
heat and if it's just a branch of a bigger tree or if it's a
39:17
Hazel and you find it in the woods and you can take it.
39:20
So OK, you can, but who will make a fire from or heat with
39:26
small diameter, diameter than 7 centimeters, I don't know, but
39:30
you can take it. So when I found Hazel, I cut it
39:33
by myself and nobody will argue with me.
39:36
So it's no problem also with elderberry or with half thorn
39:41
that I use. They're no not much problem when
39:44
I want the black locust. There are some people working
39:48
for the state that they are actually that's their job to
39:52
harvest the woods. So I asked them whether there is
39:55
a possibility to go with them and then they can say, OK, you
40:00
can have this on this. Or otherwise there are people
40:04
that actually started to connect me via Facebook that they write
40:08
to me if I don't want, for example, Ash or a black raucous
40:13
that it's on their property. So if it's on their property, so
40:17
I go with a chainsaw or with a small saw depending on the
40:21
diameter and cut it by myself and took it home.
40:25
Not a big deal, but I can find you you is protected here.
40:30
So had to come to A and then actually I have Osage orange,
40:38
maybe one more stave. And that was also an older man
40:44
that was writing me on Facebook that he is a beekeeper and in
40:49
his area there is a strange wood and he was asking someone what
40:56
kind of wood is it? And he just saw on the Internet
40:59
that OK, it's called Osage orange and that it's used in
41:04
America for both. And he was following me on the
41:09
on the Facebook and asked me if I know the wood.
41:12
I said yes, but it's not common here in Slovakia.
41:15
And he said to me, I got one. I said, what you've got a Osage
41:18
orange Slovakia. Yes, I got bees.
41:22
And there is the three and it has that orange looking things
41:27
on it. Hedge.
41:28
A yes. Hedge apples.
41:30
And then he doesn't know what to do with it.
41:34
It's like growing like crazy. And I, I said, OK, you can cut
41:37
it, I'll come directly to you. So it was maybe 150 kilometers.
41:42
But next day I was there. That's my only OSE.
41:47
Joey. Yeah, but what I have to say, I
41:50
I shared it with Dibor. So he got some states too.
41:54
Nice. What's the environment like
41:57
where you live? Are you in a forested area or in
42:00
a city? What's?
42:01
I've never been to Slovakia. Tell me a bit about it.
42:05
You should come the first thing. We got many, many forests.
42:10
Let's say maybe the 2/3 of Slovakia are forests, national
42:15
parks and that stuff. We got also some bigger
42:20
mountains, but I'm living in a certain area like in let's say
42:27
in the woods. My village is just on the border
42:31
of like there's a forest ending and there's the village and they
42:35
are fields. So I'm just in the middle of I
42:39
can go like in 3 minutes. I'm in a forest.
42:42
OK, great. So, yeah, right.
42:49
And are you in what part of the country are you North-south,
42:52
east or West? West.
42:54
West. OK, so you're close to Austria.
42:58
Near to Yes, near to Austria and to Czech Republic.
43:01
OK, All right, cool. Yeah, it's, I know very little
43:05
about it, but. And the time that I spent in in,
43:11
not in Poland, Austria and Slovenia and in Chechnya, it was
43:18
all beautiful landscape, incredibly beautiful.
43:20
So. You should visit.
43:24
I would love to yeah, yeah, we're we're planning on heading
43:28
back out hopefully for another round of of interviews and
43:32
meeting Bowyer. So hopefully that how.
43:34
Many should it be? Sorry, How many bowyers are you
43:39
planning to put in your book? Or in the book there are 1414,
43:45
yeah, 7 from North America and seven from Europe.
43:50
And so that's, that's, that's already with the publisher.
43:55
So we're not not modifying the first book, but I'm hoping that
43:59
the first, I'm hoping the first book does well enough that it is
44:01
the first book and that we then have a second book.
44:04
But we have to wait and see. It was a big project.
44:07
There was a big, big undertaking.
44:08
And so it would be a bit financially reckless to do it
44:12
again if if the book doesn't doesn't perform well on the
44:16
market. So I wish you luck.
44:19
Thank you. Yeah, but it was an amazing
44:21
experience, of course, to be able to to see so many countries
44:26
and meet so many bowyers and work in so many different
44:29
workshops and learn from them. So really incredible.
44:32
Have you learned yet? Sorry.
44:35
What what was the idea to do it actually it?
44:41
So my first experience with archery began when it's
44:47
probably, I don't know how long ago, 15 years ago, maybe it
44:50
could be 12, I don't know. But somewhere between 10 and 15
44:53
years ago through my practice, daily practice of Tai Chi, which
44:57
is a Chinese martial art, which has archery based forms in it, I
45:02
just felt really resonant with those archery type of positions
45:05
that I was doing every morning without fail for years and years
45:09
and years. And so I just felt like why
45:11
should get a bow because I really like being in these
45:14
Archer type of positions. And so I started looking at the
45:18
time, I had a, a tenant living on my property who had a
45:23
compound bow. And so he showed it to me.
45:26
I put it in my hand and I didn't even bother shooting it.
45:29
I was like, no, that's not what I want.
45:30
I don't know what I want, but this isn't what I want.
45:33
I want a piece of wood. And so at least that gave me
45:36
direction. And then ultimately what I found
45:38
is a bow from Jamie MacDonald, a Raven Beak.
45:41
Nature works in British Columbia, so Jamie makes
45:44
exquisite English long bows. I came across his website,
45:48
ordered one of his bows, fell in love with it, and then went 3 *
45:54
2 or three times to carve bows with him.
45:57
And so that was my yes, yeah, initially that's what I carved
46:01
with him. And so that was my, I think I
46:04
went twice, but I carved 3 long bows with him and just fell in
46:07
love with it. And then my farm that I have
46:12
been on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, just a couple
46:16
kilometers down the road is Pete Woodland of Heritage Bows.
46:19
And so once I got into bows and, and bow carving, I found out
46:23
that Pete lived just down the road from me.
46:25
And Pete became a good friend of mine.
46:27
And so I'd, I'd go over, do his workshop and hang out and see
46:30
what he's doing. I'd never carved a bow with him
46:33
until we started this book project, but I'd he had taught
46:37
me how to back bows and I'd had seen enough of his work to gain
46:41
a lot of insight from him. And so from those two, I really
46:45
had a lot of curiosity about how I could be a better Bowyer.
46:49
And so I wanted to continue studying under different
46:53
bowyers. And so that was my original
46:55
idea. I just want to travel and study
46:57
under different bowyers. And then at some point I
47:01
thought, well, it'd be cool to write about it, you know, maybe
47:03
a blog or it'd be amazing to write a book about it.
47:06
But that's, that's a harder task.
47:08
But I just wanted to, I thought it'd be cool to write about
47:10
that, that journey. And then my daughter, when she
47:14
was 14, said she wanted to study photography.
47:17
And so it was like a light bulb went off when she said she
47:20
wanted to study photography. And I was thinking about
47:22
traveling and meeting different bowyers and carving and writing.
47:25
I thought, well, that would be amazing to combine all of those
47:28
things together and to make a basically a coffee table book.
47:31
So something that not only describes and talks about the
47:36
art, but also shows it and stunning photographs.
47:39
And so that's how it began. I asked her if she wanted to do
47:42
it and she was excited to do it. So we started planning and it
47:48
took not that long. It probably took about six
47:51
months to plan it and to get Bowyers on board, and then it
47:54
took us about another. All told, I think it was like a
47:59
year and a half until we had finished all of our travels from
48:03
the time we started planning it, maybe a little less than a year
48:05
and a half from when we started planning it until we had done
48:08
kind of our not quite global tour, but our our world tour and
48:13
met with 14 different bow years. So it was incredible.
48:16
And I went back and card with Jamie and Pete so I could have
48:20
them in the book as well. And then it just from them and
48:23
from our search on Instagram and other social media and websites,
48:29
we just started coming across different bow years and people
48:32
would refer other barriers. And so it just kind of grew into
48:36
something. We didn't have a specific number
48:37
that we wanted to reach, just ended up being 14.
48:42
And so that's what we did and it was amazing.
48:47
Beyond amazing. And sorry today, but I'm really
48:51
OK. I'm also a bit jealous about you
48:54
because when I started maybe three years ago on Instagram and
49:00
I found their new bowyers OK, most of them have the same
49:06
account or are also actively on the YouTube like, I don't know,
49:12
Clay Hayes or Swiftwood boats that they get many platforms.
49:18
They are open to the world. But then I, when I saw you,
49:22
actually I was quite jealous that OK, I following that guy 10
49:27
years, I following following that guy eight years.
49:30
And he's from America, he's from Canada, he's from Europe, he's
49:34
from Spain. And then I saw you and just you
49:37
are visiting them directly. You are licensed by them.
49:41
So that's OK, I thought. It was, it was amazing.
49:47
And it was one of those, you know, a testament to the
49:50
generosity of this community of Bowyers, because I knew too, I
49:55
knew Jamie and Pete. So I was quite, I was pretty
49:58
sure they would accept the invitation.
50:00
But everyone else, none of them knew me.
50:03
And I'm a very amateur Bowyer and I don't have any published
50:10
books either. And so we just started reaching
50:12
out to people and, and people just some people said no, some
50:17
people we never heard from and some people said yes.
50:20
So it was really cool to to see how doors just started opening
50:24
up. Yeah.
50:25
And did you, OK, you said you made like two or three bows, the
50:30
English type or English long bows.
50:32
And then did you prepare some somehow for for the wizarding or
50:36
for making bows with different people that did you used to use
50:41
the drone knife or the rasp or anything that we use?
50:44
So I made, I made three English long bows with Jamie back in, in
50:48
the very beginning when I got into archery and bow making.
50:51
Since then I've probably carved prior to this journey, I'd
50:54
probably carved another 50 or so bows.
50:57
And so I was familiar with bow carving.
50:59
I had made a lot of passable bows.
51:01
I teach archery in Costa Rica. And so I was making all the bows
51:05
that I teach with. So both long bows and flat bows.
51:08
Some were S bows, some were laminate bows.
51:12
And so I had, I had a bit of experience and then I was able
51:18
to obviously take that to many more levels once I started
51:22
visiting with these amazing bowyers and the best teachers in
51:25
the world. So it was really incredible to
51:28
have that experience. And again, the generosity was
51:32
phenomenal. Like my daughter and I just got
51:34
to come into their their homes and their workshops and spend
51:37
four or five days with each of them and it was really
51:39
incredible. Have you been surprised?
51:43
Like was there a surprise because when you made already 50
51:47
bolts, then you know how is the process?
51:50
OK, then you need to cut a tree, you need to split it, you need
51:53
to season it. You need to make a make a shape
51:58
of a bow and then you need to dealer it, you need how to bend
52:02
it. And have you been surprised by
52:04
some kind of processes by the different kind of bowyers or is
52:09
it really the? No, it's different with
52:12
everyone. So I wouldn't say surprise
52:15
necessarily. But well, for example, the the
52:19
most unfamiliar bow that I made was the Yumi bow with Stefan Tim
52:24
of bamboo bows. So we made a Japanese Yumi bow.
52:27
I had never done anything like that.
52:29
I had made laminate bows. So I knew about the construction
52:32
of the layers. But as far as the tillering
52:35
process and the, the glue up and the bending of the Japanese Yumi
52:39
bow, never done anything like that.
52:41
I probably won't do anything like that again.
52:44
I, I don't know. That was, that's a very
52:46
different experience with all the others.
52:47
So that was the outlier. So that was very different for
52:52
the rest of them. It was really incredible to me
52:56
to be able to see the subtle differences between each of the
52:59
bowyers. There's a lot of commonalities.
53:01
Most of them prefer using draw knives and scrapers and rasps.
53:06
Most of them don't use power tools other than maybe like a
53:09
bandsaw or a belt Sander to to remove mass or prepare the tips.
53:14
So it was mostly all the largely hand tools and they typically
53:19
use very similar hand tools. So with that it was there was a
53:23
lot of familiarity but worked with 9 different types of bow
53:28
woods along the way including bamboo.
53:31
So I guess 8 bow woods and bamboo, so many of those I'd
53:36
never worked with before. So a lot of getting a lot of
53:39
experience doing that. I had never had to when I my
53:42
very first stop, our very first stop was with Waylon Olive of
53:45
Swiftwood bows and we made an Osage bow.
53:48
I'd never worked with Osage and I had never chased a ring.
53:51
So that was, you know, that was a great way to start.
53:53
Like, OK, let's chase a ring on this Osage.
53:56
And then of course I had to do that many times and with
54:00
subsequent bowyers, but that was really fun to do.
54:02
And then with Waylands, I got to back it with sturgeon skin,
54:05
which I'd never backed about with fish skin before.
54:08
So that was fun doing. And then it was just different
54:12
with everyone. So Corey Hawk with organic
54:16
Archery, we carved hackberry. I've never carved hackberry.
54:19
So it was a great experience. And we put that over the open
54:23
fire to to heat treat it. So each place I went, there were
54:27
just little things that maybe I'd never done before or I got
54:31
to see done differently. Eric strikes beer of Sparrow
54:36
Bows, who's very close to you in Austria.
54:38
He's meticulous with calipers and he measures with calipers
54:44
probably 1000 plus times in every bow build.
54:47
Some Bowers don't touch calipers.
54:50
And so that was something that was very different.
54:54
There you go. So that for me was was
54:57
interesting to see that process and also to see how he also,
55:01
Eric also maps his bows with software called virtual bow.
55:04
And so he can spend weeks, months actually studying
55:09
different bows, historical bows. And then with this software he
55:13
has, he maps them virtually and then he can play around with
55:17
things and basically he can determine what a certain draw
55:21
weight will, how it will prefer perform, where there will be
55:27
when there'll be potential hand shock, where there'll be energy
55:30
wasted or left behind. So he can kind of figure out a
55:33
lot of those things with the software.
55:35
But then we also discovered that when we were carving together
55:38
that the software can only take you so far.
55:41
And if you deviate, which I did on one spot where there was a
55:45
caliper reading that I went like 10% under the caliper reading.
55:49
And we found out that at the end that didn't really impact the
55:53
the goal much at much at all. But at the time it seemed like a
55:57
really big disaster, like, Oh no, I just went too thin.
56:00
Now I'm going to have a hinge. Now the whole like the whole bow
56:03
weights got to change. Everything's got to change.
56:05
But it actually didn't. It didn't at all.
56:08
So it was something there. It was nice for both of us to
56:11
kind of experience how you can be as scientific and precise as
56:14
possible. But at the end of the day, most
56:17
bowyers are carving from feel, carving from sight, carving from
56:23
experience. And no matter how much you have
56:26
of data saying you got to do it a certain way, there's, there's,
56:30
there can be variations and flexibility with that.
56:33
So, and just all along everywhere I went, those were
56:36
kind of experiences like I carved A laburnum bow with Simon
56:39
Kell and Switzerland never had used laburnum.
56:43
After we after we made the shape it or after we removed a lot of
56:46
mass, it started twisting on us. So we had to do a lot of heat
56:50
bending to get it back into into alignment.
56:53
Great experience doing that. So all along it was it was
56:58
really cool. Made a sapling bow with Para
57:00
Frieden and Sweden had never made a sapling bow.
57:05
So just all sorts of incredible experiences.
57:08
And yeah, everyone has a slightly different style and a
57:11
different way, like Pete Woodland of Heritage Archery,
57:14
like he's such a Craftsman. His bows have so much artistry
57:19
in them. And so we carved a belly Ridge.
57:22
Yeah, we carved a belly Ridge on EU bow that I carved with him.
57:24
And it's, it took that took like at least 25, if not 35% of of
57:32
the time of making the bow was carving this precise belly
57:35
Ridge, the whole length of it. But it's it's great to have
57:38
those experiences and see how meticulous you can get with
57:40
them. I was wondering how how long
57:44
that needs to to take to carve the reach on the bow.
57:47
Wow, he. Can do it a lot faster than me,
57:49
but yeah, it takes a long time. But it's really precise but OK a
57:54
long time someone would say OK it's just 8 hours but in eight
57:58
hours you make a primitive bow. You are finishing with a with a
58:02
complete bow after 8 hours. If you are skilled enough and if
58:05
the wood is good, then single Hazel, Boo Hazel bowl that is
58:10
without heat treatment in about 35 lbs and you can finish it in
58:16
eight hours. OK.
58:17
It's not that it's completely not in that level that Pete is
58:20
making. OK, so but you can make it and
58:24
it depends what you call long term and what do you call quick.
58:29
Yeah. And one thing that was I found
58:32
with a number of The Archers are Bowers and Pete included, is a
58:36
bows never done to them. Like some of them will go back
58:40
and rework a bow many times during its life.
58:44
And Pete had a beautiful bow with a belly Ridge going tip to
58:48
tip, but it didn't go through the handle and it was a
58:51
beautiful completed bow. And while I was working on mine,
58:54
he decided he was going to take the belly Ridge through the
58:56
handle. And so he spent hours carving a
58:59
bow that was already finished for me.
59:01
I once a bow is finished, I'm so relieved that it's finished so
59:04
that it shoots. I don't want to touch it again,
59:07
but it's nothing for him to pick it back up and be like, all
59:09
right, let's let's change this a bit.
59:11
Waylon Olive has a a couple drawers filled with bows that
59:16
are in in need of some sort of what he says restoration or
59:20
reworking and he'll pull him out and he'll mix modifications to
59:24
him or corrections to the tiller.
59:26
Actually, the bow that I did was Simon Kell, a beautiful Laburnum
59:31
bow. And we shot it quite a bit while
59:33
I was there. And then he was shipping it to
59:35
my farm in Canada. And before he shipped it, he
59:38
messaged me saying, I think I, I want to rework the tiller a
59:41
little bit. There's something that's just
59:42
not perfect. And so we had this beautiful bow
59:46
that shot great. It was book worthy.
59:48
It's, it's in the book. But he, you know, have has
59:51
enough confidence and also he's such a perfectionist that he
59:55
wanted to go back in and strip down some of what we had done
59:58
and just correct a small little bit of the tiller.
1:00:01
Which I would never even have noticed, but for someone like
1:00:04
him that had to be done so and say.
1:00:08
I know that feeling that when you are trying to say, OK, it's
1:00:11
finished and then you flip it over from the other side and
1:00:14
then you see, OK, that's not the same way as the other limb.
1:00:18
So you need to correct and see from the different side.
1:00:22
Then you will shoot 100 arrows from that and check the tiller
1:00:26
and then you will find out, OK, there's still something that I
1:00:29
should remove from it or make a hit treatment or make A twist.
1:00:34
It could be. But sometimes I think that you
1:00:37
should, you should leave the ball and whether to accept how
1:00:42
it is, because sometimes it happened that I, I tried to
1:00:47
change it in the way that not say that it's ruined, but I
1:00:53
supposed to leave it. Like, OK, it was a £50 good
1:00:56
shooting bow. Maybe it was not perfect, but I
1:01:00
finished with a 30 LB like just slow bow that I took too much
1:01:04
mass from it. And maybe then I tried to hit
1:01:08
treat it or try to bend it with a heat gun and I broke it or
1:01:13
something like that. So, OK, you can be a
1:01:16
perfectionist, but be be careful with that.
1:01:19
Yeah, from my point of view. Yeah, and I think a lot of it
1:01:23
comes from you talked about self-confidence.
1:01:25
I think a lot of it comes from having that self-confidence and
1:01:28
the experience of hundreds and hundreds of bows, if not 1000
1:01:32
more bows to know that you can go on and you can tweak a bow
1:01:35
and you can make it even better without ruining it.
1:01:38
I I don't think I have that self-confidence yet.
1:01:41
Like I'm still on the, I'm still in that position where I I want
1:01:44
to make a bow as best as I can, But when I get something that
1:01:47
shoots well and looks good, typically I'll I'll stop.
1:01:52
But some, some will keep working until it's absolutely perfect.
1:01:56
So. And I I don't feel like I'm I'm
1:02:01
finished that I could say that I'm a bow year.
1:02:03
I'm more or less a student still, so I'm still learning.
1:02:06
I didn't, I didn't use like 50 or 30 kind of woods.
1:02:11
I just maybe used wealth. So I can't judge any other work
1:02:17
or any other design that it's good or or bad.
1:02:20
So I don't have that kind of confidence.
1:02:22
But I I learned to say to myself, OK, you tried.
1:02:27
Whether you feel it's good or it's not, enjoy it and whether
1:02:32
you enjoyed it or let's say sorry when you enjoyed it, then
1:02:37
stay with the bow if it's enjoyable and if it's doesn't
1:02:41
have too much hand shock. But even if it has a hand shock
1:02:45
or if it has some, some fix that something that could be more
1:02:53
perfect, but you are accepting that that OK, is the bow is like
1:02:59
it is and you can still shoot it.
1:03:02
Then I leave it so and just maybe put it on the Internet and
1:03:06
say, OK, I got a bow. Whether you like it or not, you
1:03:09
can have it, you can buy it. Or if it's not perfect according
1:03:14
to you, then you don't need to buy it or you don't need to
1:03:17
shoot it or try it even. But more or less when people are
1:03:21
coming to me, I, I let them see the difference.
1:03:26
But because they, most of them, they are not Archers.
1:03:29
They are just starting with archery and starting with a wood
1:03:33
bow, and they're asking me that whether this kind of bow is
1:03:37
better or this kind of bow is better when I give them a just
1:03:42
simple flat bow or then I have a reflex or an English Longbow
1:03:49
style, let's say. Then I tell them just
1:03:53
theoretically what's the difference?
1:03:54
But I let them feel the ball when they choose because someone
1:03:58
someone is afraid about handshake, but someone is still
1:04:01
enjoying a ball with a hand Chuck and just see, OK, that's
1:04:04
strong, that that's quickly OK, that that's cool.
1:04:07
I wanted OK, it's still a hand Chuck.
1:04:09
But when when people are enjoying it, OK, it's a good
1:04:15
ball for me. Do you do any sort of additions?
1:04:20
Do you put anything on your bows such as backing or tip overlays,
1:04:25
handle, leather craft, or anything on your bows?
1:04:29
I think that most of the things that you said I made already.
1:04:33
I put also a sinew on a few bows.
1:04:36
I put all, I put most of the bows some deep overlays from
1:04:41
from cow horn or from muffron horn.
1:04:45
And I've already had some rawhides, so I backed the ball
1:04:49
with a rawhide and also I'm I'm putting a leather grip also of
1:04:55
most of the bows. If it's not particular order
1:05:00
from someone who wants a really primitive bow.
1:05:04
I was sometime I'm I'm asking to remove my mark actually from a
1:05:09
bowl that people that doesn't want it there.
1:05:12
I said, OK, that's my mark. It's my work.
1:05:14
If you don't like it, so don't buy it.
1:05:17
But OK, I put most, I put most of the bows a certain OK, I put
1:05:24
there a mark of me or which is mate as a Buffalo, Buffalo head.
1:05:33
So I got a picture of a Buffalo head which I can burn into the
1:05:37
wood. Most of my boats have it, but my
1:05:41
wife doesn't like it. She said that it's not an Indian
1:05:47
bow or a Native American bow that people here in Europe
1:05:50
doesn't know buffaloes. So I I'm searching for some
1:05:54
pictures on the Internet and I burn different pictures on my
1:05:59
boss as you probably saw on my on the pictures.
1:06:03
So you're changing them now? Yes.
1:06:07
How do you burn them? By hand, By hand with a with a
1:06:12
pencil kind of burner, yes. They're very skilled.
1:06:18
That takes some. That takes some talent and
1:06:20
patience. My parents say that I like to to
1:06:23
draw when I was young, so maybe OK.
1:06:26
Do you have a brand for your boss?
1:06:30
Not, not exactly. OK, you post them on Instagram
1:06:36
and then you say you have Facebook.
1:06:38
I have Facebook, yeah, I got a page there and on the Instagram,
1:06:42
but I'm not that kind of active on the platforms.
1:06:46
Yeah. OK, I'm kind of busy now, just
1:06:50
starting to build a house, so spring is coming.
1:06:54
The roofers need to work, so I don't have much time to do that.
1:06:58
Yeah. Also, yes, two children.
1:07:02
Nice. How old are they?
1:07:03
And then my son is 10 and the the daughter is 3 years old so.
1:07:10
That's awesome. Quite busy either and either of
1:07:13
them spend time in your workshop with you.
1:07:16
Actually I made a bow for my son together with him when he was
1:07:20
maybe 4 or five and we have been able to resell it actually this
1:07:26
year. So it was a bow just carved most
1:07:32
by me and I, I was teaching him to make the Flemish twist.
1:07:37
So he was just making the string in a certain part and putting
1:07:43
the putting the string on the ball.
1:07:47
You know the how we call it when you put Irving around the
1:07:52
serving, yes, he was done. He was doing this and I gave him
1:07:57
some paint and he was painting the ball like in some kind of
1:08:01
Native American style. So he shot it maybe for three
1:08:05
years when he was able and he had time and this year I was
1:08:12
asked if I have a child bow which I had to answer no I just
1:08:17
have one of my son and when my son is already 10 the ball was
1:08:22
too was too slow and weak for him.
1:08:25
It was maybe around 10 lbs. So I told the guy maybe I could
1:08:31
resell it but I need to ask my son and he said OK resell it you
1:08:34
get money. OK, so then I, I, I just changed
1:08:40
the, I just changed the, the string.
1:08:44
I put the new string on it, put it under my hands to a little
1:08:50
bit of sanding, put a new finish on it, a new, new, new string
1:08:55
knocks maybe some kind of retail ring gate.
1:08:59
And it's still shooting and making and having fun with other
1:09:03
boys. So I think that's also a good,
1:09:06
Yeah. That's great.
1:09:10
Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me
1:09:13
and tell me about your passion of bow craft.
1:09:16
It's always great to talk with other bow ears.
1:09:19
And thanks for sharing all your stuff on Instagram.
1:09:22
I wouldn't have found your stuff otherwise, but you make some
1:09:24
beautiful bows. Thank you very much.
1:09:27
Thank you too for having me. That's my pleasure.
1:09:32
And I'll put I'll put the link to your Instagram and your
1:09:35
Facebook and the show notes so people will be able to find you
1:09:39
And good luck with with your passion, your pursuit of it.
1:09:44
OK. Thank you very much.
1:09:46
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1:09:57
Quiver on Salish Wolf. Follow our journey on Instagram
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