A long story but on the same vein; I was walking down the road at my hunting club and ran into a guy carrying what looked like a tree limb with a string on it and handful of arrows. I was one of the rare Trad guys at the time (early 90s) so I stopped to talk with him. I asked him" do you deer hunt with that", he said yes. Next I asked if he ever killed a deer with his bow, again he replied in the affirmative and said he killed deer with it the past week.
Being a so so craftsman at the time I had to know more about making ones own bow, this was uncharted territory for me. I asked about the wood and the process, even though he didn't know me from Adam he invited me over to his house to show me how he made bows.
Later we sat on his back porch and he showed me the entire process, I was hooked. I started cutting osage, collecting tools and went at bow making like a house on fire.
We became good friends, he was an amazing man and craftsman.
A few years later another friend gave me his custom flintlock on his deathbed, one shot and all my TC stuff was for sale and I decide to try my hand at building my own gun.
My bow making mentor was not only a bow maker but could make any stringed instrument, he was a fabulous musician and best of all had built a bunch of B/P rifles and pistols, I had a great mentor in my first attempt at building a gun.
Turns out he is from a rather famous dynasty of gun builders, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree generation after generation. Joseph Bogle was his 5th great grandfather and he carries the same name and passion for recreating the same style rifle his great(times 5) grandfather built.
Here is Joe Bogle at the Museum of Appalachia with his great grandfathers original rifle;
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