Other schools' bow making classes

Their Class We recognize the inherent flaws in many bow making courses. Instead of first learning to work with locally found materials they use exotic wood purchased from a dealer. Then the instructor initially shapes the stave on a band saw. All that's left for the student to do is a little tillering. Unfortunately the staves are frequently removed from the hands of the participants for the instructor to fix mistakes. We believe this quest for unrealistic perfection does not necessarily create an environment conducive to learning a living art such as bow making.

Trackers bow making basics

Our Class Learning means failing, succeeding, then failing and succeeding again. We keep it real with locally harvested staves of hazel and vine maple. We know practice makes perfect. If you finish one bow your first day, we put you on another stave to explore the unique flex, bend and features of another wood. We work with realistic staves, wood with knots and imperfections. Let us be clear, we are not here to simply give you the perfect bow made mostly by our instructors. We teach you how to craft a useful tool from local materials, deepening your personal bow making skills and connection to the land.