About the service
I build traditional target bows and matching arrows by hand, one set at a time, for club shooting and recreational practice on a properly equipped range. Work starts with measurements rather than with wood: I ask for your height, your arm span and your honest draw length, and only then decide on the draw weight. A bow that is three kilograms too strong teaches a flinch in a single afternoon, and no amount of coaching undoes that quickly, so I would rather build you something you can hold steady at full draw for a slow count of five.
The limbs are laminated from quarter-sawn maple with glass laminations on the belly and back, pressed in a heated form and left to cure before the profile is tillered by hand on the tree. The riser is cut from a dense hardwood such as hornbeam or walnut, shaped to the hand, and finished with oil so the grip stays warm and quiet in cold weather. Strings are built from modern low-stretch fibre or from natural flax if you prefer the older feel, served at the nocking point and at the loops, and I show you how to wax them, when to replace a worn serving and why a string should never be left strung in a hot car.
Arrows are matched to the finished bow, never bought by guesswork. I measure the spine of each shaft, sort them into a set that flies together, fit blunt target points of the correct grain weight, and fletch them with natural feathers or low profile vanes depending on the distances you shoot. Every set is shot in over a paper target so the sight picture and the nocking point are settled before the bow leaves me.
Safety comes with the order and it is not a formality: this equipment is for paper targets on a supervised range with a clear backstop, arrows are only nocked on the shooting line, nothing is ever drawn without a target in front of it, and the bow is never handed to a child without an adult standing with them. Storage matters too, so I explain how to unstring, hang and keep the set through a damp winter.
What is included:
— a fitting conversation and full set of measurements;
— laminated limbs and a shaped hardwood riser, tillered and finished;
— a string plus a spare, both served and waxed;
— a matched dozen of arrows, spined, pointed and fletched;
— shooting in, sight and nock setting, and written care, storage and range safety notes.
The limbs are laminated from quarter-sawn maple with glass laminations on the belly and back, pressed in a heated form and left to cure before the profile is tillered by hand on the tree. The riser is cut from a dense hardwood such as hornbeam or walnut, shaped to the hand, and finished with oil so the grip stays warm and quiet in cold weather. Strings are built from modern low-stretch fibre or from natural flax if you prefer the older feel, served at the nocking point and at the loops, and I show you how to wax them, when to replace a worn serving and why a string should never be left strung in a hot car.
Arrows are matched to the finished bow, never bought by guesswork. I measure the spine of each shaft, sort them into a set that flies together, fit blunt target points of the correct grain weight, and fletch them with natural feathers or low profile vanes depending on the distances you shoot. Every set is shot in over a paper target so the sight picture and the nocking point are settled before the bow leaves me.
Safety comes with the order and it is not a formality: this equipment is for paper targets on a supervised range with a clear backstop, arrows are only nocked on the shooting line, nothing is ever drawn without a target in front of it, and the bow is never handed to a child without an adult standing with them. Storage matters too, so I explain how to unstring, hang and keep the set through a damp winter.
What is included:
— a fitting conversation and full set of measurements;
— laminated limbs and a shaped hardwood riser, tillered and finished;
— a string plus a spare, both served and waxed;
— a matched dozen of arrows, spined, pointed and fletched;
— shooting in, sight and nock setting, and written care, storage and range safety notes.
