I got this 1963 Howatt Hunter recently. 35#, which is the lightest one I've seen and is why I got it. But it's also not rosewood. It's all one piece of wood. What is it? Highly figured Bubinga? Shedua? Other? And why was this bow made like this? No one I know has ever seen one like it.

Mr. Hatfield, if you can provide any info tha would be greatly appreciated.

Shandor Weiss

Nice looking bow congrats.

What a find and by the looks of the way it shoots for you, definitely a keeper. Lance

Thanks, Lance. Yup, a keeper for sure. Shooting from 33 yards. Like all Hunters, it's a great shooting bow. Shandor

Maybe because of the poundage they did not feel it needed a lam riser.I would not worry about it . I have a 45 lb.Howatt Bandido with a Bubinga riser that i shot the heck out of,and still holding up great 58 inches. Those are some fine bows, and have a very comfortable grip.My riser is more reddish ,and straighter grain than the one you are showing.Looks like an earlier model to me.

I guess it is an earlier model. OOps.1963. My brother has three that were made in the 1970,s, and all have lam risers.

That ones a keeper for sure! She's a beauty Shandor!

From what I know of rosewood, which is, as you understand Shandor quite a lot, the range of coloration is very diverse. My guess is that is simply a lighter colored Rosewood than we are used to.

Larry is a Mod on Tradtalk, you might try him there.

The rosewood risers were all laminated and that is one piece.

But what is the wood?

Think about when that bow was made? 1963..date is accurate.

What wood was all the rage in 1963? Think Bear Kmags.

Yep...bubinga and especially bubinga with a waterfall grain.

And that's what the riser is made of...nice bow Shandor...it's a rare and wonderful thing!

Wondering if it's a Hondorus Rosewood possibly? It seem's to be much lighter in color but I have some Howatts and a few have some small areas of goldish color which I think sets it off.

It is Bubinga. We used to get wood from a single log that took three years for the native logger to fall, cut a large log, roll it to a railroad with an elephant and get it loaded. We were sent films from our supplier that showed the entire process. We would get some amazing grain because there was only one mill involved and it sliced for us. The only two rosewoods we ever used was Brazilian and East Indian from Indonesia.

Thanks for all the comments. Rare and wonderful it is, Peter!

Mr. Hatfield, can you say why this Hunter was made of Bubinga? Were others made of it also? No one (except perhaps you) seems to have seen one. Custom order? Someone selecting the wood just felt like using a nice piece of Bubinga? Or... ?

Another great anecdote from Larry...that is a fascinating account of how a big tree was brought to the mill.

It is amazing grain.

Were those bows special order or did you make some as a matter of course?

Thanks, once again, for sharing.

Nice bow.

Enjoy.

That's an amazing story Larry. Thanks for sharing.

We had one log, about 10 feet long, that cranes at the waterfront could not lift. They phoned and asked if they could use explosives to blow it apart so they could get it to the mill. That bow could have been an employees bow, a special bow for somebody, or simply one made that way for a while. We were also working on Super Diablo's in that time frame made out of one piece of Maple.

Thank you, Larry. That's another amazing story. I'll go with the special bow for somebody, and consider that somebody to be me, 55 years after it was made.

Dave, I know what you mean about rosewood and a lighter shade. Some thought the same, seeing pics of it. But seeing it in person, it really doesn't look like rosewood. Here's a 61 Palomar with some of that light rosewood in it, like in that KMag of yours.

And here's another 63 Bubinga bow, as Peter was suggesting was popular that year. 63 Kodiak. When the Bubinga is highly figured it really shimmers in the sunlight. Rosewood shimmers also but in a different way. Both of these Bubinga bows of mine have shimmering spots that move along the bow as you change your angle of view.

The REAL Brazilian Rosewood had a lot of cream colored wood in the average board. Went from cream to pitch black that sometimes had a mineral that glowed a greenish color in sunlight. Typical bow with wide B.R. had at least three different colors.

Thanks again Larry for letting us know here .I was curious to what wood it was as well and just guessing about the Honduras wood but nice to know they only used the Brazilian and East Indian rosewoods.I am always learning something new about the Howatts and thank you again.

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