From: crookedstix
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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I recently got this 1960-vintage 55# Howatt Hunter from Pdiddly, and have removed some wood from the grip and given it the Formby's Oil treatment. While I was working on it, I was reminded of something I had noticed with other Howatt Hunters...
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From: crookedstix
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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...and that is that a LOT of bows have limb profiles that are very similar to the 1960 Howatt Hunter. To show you waht I mean, I laid this one out on some white arrow boxes so I could trace that profile...
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From: crookedstix
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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...and then I started laying some of my other favorite bows on the tracing. Here's a 1966 Ocala--pretty darn close! Like the Hunter, the Ocala was a 62" bow.
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From: crookedstix
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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I remember reading how the Howatt Hunter and Hi-Speed had basically identical limbs; the Hi-Speed was just 4" shorter through the riser. It looks like Shakespeare's approach was kind of similar--here's the 58" 1967 Kaibab laid on the Howatt trace; and again, it's almost identical. The Kaibab is the Ocala's little brother, just as the Hi-Speed is the Hunter's little brother.
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From: crookedstix
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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I have two other 1967 desgns--a Pearson Mustang and the Bill Stewart-designed Red Wing Slimline Pro--that also fit the tracing very closely.
Now fast forward to 1980--here's the Savora Custom, a 62" Bill Stewart design. Even though it's a Dymondwood-risered takedown, look how similar the limb profile is...
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From: crookedstix
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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Now granted, the limb cores are slightly different on all these bows; so they may open up differently at full draw--but it does seem safe to say that Damon Howatt came up with something that REALLY worked. It speaks volumes that you can still buy a bow with the same basic curve that was designed sometime around 1957.
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From: Kodiak
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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Who'd Howatt borrow it from?
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From: crookedstix
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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That's always a pertinent question to ask...but the older bows that I've had all seemed to have straighter limbs and more open tips. Maybe someone else will know of an earlier version though; for instance, I've never had a St. Charles Thunderbird to compare it to. I don't believe anything in the Eicholtz > Wilson White > FASCO lineup had this profile, and the Drakes were usually a lot longer or a lot shorter.
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From: Pdiddly
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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Here's my " If it isn't broken, don't fix it!" addition to crookedstix great thread.
Here is the same 1960 Hunter than Kerry featured (when it was in my stable) hanging next to a 1992 Hunter. So a span of 32 years and what do we see?
No change!
Larry has often, and proudly stated, that they changed the riser but never the limbs or the angle off the riser.
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From: Pdiddly
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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I truly think that it was an original Howatt creation.
They also varied the thickness of the limb laminations as they approached the tip, increasing the thickness of one lamination toward the tip to control how the recurve unloaded...the only bow I have seen this on was Howatt's.
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From: cut it out
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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i do love the looks of those Howatt Hunters!!!
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From: fdp
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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Larry H. has talked pretty in depth about the double tapered lamination in the Howatts. Done to control the opening of the hooks I believe he said. Also, they (the Howatt gang) built the lamination grinder they used.
In addition, ALL Howatt 1 piece bows have a sold lamination, and a solid piece of glass on the back. The longbows I think may have had 2 full length laminations. That fact makes the riser considerably stiffer.
I don't know that the side view unstrung profile was an original Howatt profile, but the double tapered laminations, and solid laminations on the back in "production" bows I would say certainly were.
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From: larryhatfield
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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We built bows for Howard for years. Damon actually did the hunter limb profile and we later made better use of it with the double taper lams. Damon did not copy anyone. Lots of people copied the hunter take off and limb outline, with their own take on the riser and lam stack. Jim Brackenberry actually came to the shop and traced the forms for the hunter press. The only thing he did not have access to was how we created the double tapered lams. He did a great job creating his own bow from that base, as did several other people. Bill Stewart was very familiar with all the Howatt bows because he was the builder of all the stand up presses. When he and his brothers moved out to start their own company they naturally started out with what they knew.
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From: George D. Stout
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Date: 19-Mar-17 |
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Most unique things go on inside the limb, not necessarily seen in a profile. Some of the 50's Sanders had a similar profile, as did the many of the later 50's bows.
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From: Osr144
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Date: 20-Mar-17 |
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Yeah that's a common thing because most folk were not the ones who came up with the original concept and copying was done by lots of people back then.Some never got down to the finer points and taper variations .Consequently some manufactures only produced mediocre bows .My wife's Sabo hunter has a great limb profile and is one of the faster bows of that era.I have copied limb profiles as a safe guard making bow forms.These shapes are proven designs that work and you invest a bit of time and money building bows I don't have the luxury of making experimental forms to get a failure and have to start over.Early manufactures probably my thought the same.Imatation is the highest form of flattery they say.So here's to Howatt bows.Great design OSR
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From: crookedstix
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Date: 20-Mar-17 |
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Yes, lamination is the sincerest form of flattening, as we say! Another saying I like is that we're all fishing downstream from someone else.
The folks at Howatt were never shy about innovating--so the fact that they stuck with this basic design for four decades is pretty telling, as Peter points out.
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