Well, as we get further into the month of June, the weather is warming up. I guess that's to be expected. This is the kind of global warming you can actually measure and feel. Linda and I went out to Copeland, Kansas, for a couple of days. I wanted to visit a friend out there who owns a bow business. Shane Unruh is the owner and operator of Great Plains Bows. Shane recently purchased Great Plains Bows and moved the business from Pampa, Texas, up to Copeland.
We left for western Kansas on Monday morning sometime around 10 a.m. We took our granddaughter, Annie, along with us to visit her maternal grandparents, Howard and Londa Koehn, who also live in the Copeland area. We stayed with Howard's while we were there and enjoyed being with them. It was kind of warm out in western Kansas, too, but the humidity is much lower than here. The corn looks lush and dark green. Most of the farming being done in that area uses irrigation.
On Tuesday, I spent most of the day in Shane's bow shop watching how they did things and trying to learn all I could about building bows. Shane is very conscientious in his attention to detail, which is important in the building of bows. He was kind enough to let me watch and ask questions as he worked. I tried not to interfere too much since his is a production shop and time is money.
Shane's wife, Karissa, works with him and, I mean, she really works. She has her duties and he has his. Shane also has a young man working for him through the summer who teaches school the rest of the year. The business is actively looking for a full-time employee. Shane said they were building around six bows a week. The bows range in price from $700 to more than $1,000, depending on the type of bow ordered. Shane makes a number of bows, including longbows, recurves, reflex-deflex and hybrids. He also offers take-down models in all the designs as well. With take-downs, the limbs are bolted on to the riser so they can be removed for travelling or when flying to a hunting destination. Great Plains bows are sold all over the world, including in Europe and Asia. It is considered one of the premier bow companies in the U.S.A.
We had driven out to Copeland by way of Enid, Oklahoma, and Liberal, Kansas. On the way back home, we took highway 400 east to Wichita, where the temperature was 99. The temperature slowly dropped as we drove south on I-35 to the Cimarron Turnpike. By the time we got home on Wednesday evening, it was in the upper 80s.
We got home in time for me to work in the garden a little while. I needed some exercise after sitting in the pickup truck all day. The garlic needed digging, so I got my shovel and dug down beside each stalk so it would be easier to pull the bulbs. I then shook the soil off the roots. We have a bumper crop of elephant garlic this year. I laid the plants on a sheet of cardboard on the front porch out of direct sunlight in order for them to dry before we store them in the garage. I didn't want the garage to end up smelling like garlic.
I noticed some nice green tomatoes on the vines so thought it would be good if I watered them. I use a soaker hose for watering, so most of the water sinks straight down to the roots. It is unwise to get moisture on the tomato plants themselves as it encourages disease.
I checked the rabbits to make sure they had water, but their bowls were full; as was their feed dish. Our daughter-in-law, Jessica, takes care of our livestock whenever we are away from home. I did change the water in the sheep pen since I figured it was probably hot. We have one ewe that is still shedding and she gets hot -- in more ways than one. I'm just guessing here, but I think she is kind of hot-headed for a sheep. I wish she would use her head in a better way, but she mostly uses it to butt the goats. On the other hand, I think it bothers me more than it does them.
Thursday morning was spent in the shop. I am working on a new bow form. I had called my lumber supplier on Wednesday on the way home to order some Baltic Birch plywood and, luckily, it arrived Thursday morning. He was able to add it to an order going to my son's cabinet shop. I picked it up down there and took it up to my shop.
Baltic Birch is a good grade of plywood which is what I needed for my bow form. I marked out a bow shape on the form with the intention of bandsawing it out, but began to have some doubts as to the wisdom of taking such a course. A bow form needs to be accurate and it is difficult to cut that accurately with a bandsaw. This is especially so since the form is fairly long and unwieldy. I knew my neighbor, Travis Pendergrass, had a computer file that I had had created for me that had this bow shape on it so I went over to his shop which is just across the road. Travis and I sat down at his computer and pretty soon we had worked out a nice bow shape that he could send to his CNC router.
Using his computerized router, it only took a couple of minutes to cut out my bow form. All I had to do was to load up my plywood and haul it over to Travis's shop where we loaded it onto his CNC table and cut it out.
The form consists of a top piece and a bottom piece. So the top of the form is made up of two identical pieces that I will need to glue together, and the bottom is made up of two identical pieces. This is because the plywood is ¾-inch thick and the form needs to be 1 ½ inches thick. The thickness of the form determines the maximum width of the bow limbs that are made on it. I am currently waiting on some other, back-ordered, parts for my form before I can finish constructing it. I guess working in the garden will have to do for now -- or, maybe, sitting on the porch with a glass of iced tea, or, maybe, sitting inside in the air-conditioning. Whatever works, I reckon.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 06/15/2016