I recently resurrected my interest in archery and pulled my Browning Safari out of it's temporary retirement of 25+ years. Made in 1964 and given to me by my father while growing up in Central VA, I learned last year after living in CA since 1985, that it was made less than a mile from where I was living. It had made a full circle journey back to the origin of its birth.

I learned this from someone here on LW that started a discussion raising questions concerning Browning and a then San Diego company called Gordon Plastics Inc.

For those that don't know, in the 50's Gordon Plastics Inc. developed Bo-Tuff, the fiberglass laminate that is now used in most every modern bow made. They helped bowers such as Fred Bear, Frank Eicholtz, Harry Drake and a host of others develop the laminated bows that made them famous.

Gordon Plastics produced their own bow line and supplied Bo-Tuff to others, until 1963 when they sold their bow manufacturing line to Browning and concentrated on the Bo-Tuff market as well as other glass related products.

This is were and when my Browning Safari was built - in the Gordon Plastics facility.

All of this got me interested in the San Diego bowyers of the era, whom I have discovered were among the most famous and influential in the country.

As mentioned before, men like Frank Eicholtz who set many distance records with flight bows and Harry Drake who with Gordon Plastics laminate material is recognized as a pioneer in the laminated bow world.

"White Bows", Browning Bows, Gordon Plastics "Royal Line" of bow and others were produced in San Diego. Archery greats like Rube Powell promoted archery not only in San Diego but throughout the state.

There are many others, but the point is, that San Diego seems to have been the hot spot in the country for famous bowers, champions and industry firsts in the 50's and 60's.

So....my goal is to now own as many pieces of this San Diego history as I can. I have a good start, in that, I now own three Gordon Plastics Inc bows, an Eicholtz Saturn,a White Special and my original Browning Safari.

If you are aware of a famous San Diego bowyer or influential archery great that I haven't mentioned, please detail what you know here for future newbies and interested old timers to learn about -OR- let us know what link you may have to your own local archery history!

Fred Anderson

Interesting info jaz, and not to be critical, but your statement "firsts in the 50's and 60's" isn't exactly correct...

If I read right, Papa Bear was the first to incorporate fiberglass laminations in bows. I believe he first started experimenting with cross sections of fiberglass before he went to liniar fiberglass (hope that makes sense) and this happened not long after WWII if I remember reading correctly. Am not sure of the years, but I think it was during the late 40's, cause he first experimented with aluminum backing left over from the war...

Am sure if opening this thread, Liquid Amber or other history buffs can give better details...

Zbone

A good point and one I was aware of, but sources differ on this, and I tend to think the popularity of Bear bows tends to lend itself to this point.

The traditional bowyers encyclopedia credits Frank Eicholtz with this distinction, when in 1945, he developed a successful fiberglass backing. However, it goes on to say that 6 out of every 10 bows laminated with this early fiberglass would fall apart until Gordon came out with their fiberglass, which stabilized the industry.

So, even though Bear is renowned for his work in fiberglass laminated bows, most sources I can find, give the credit to Frank and Gordon.

I don't know that they are 100% correct but this is all I have to go on.

Yes, Fred Anderson is one of the masters of bowbuilding who worked for FASCO in San Diego. Of course, Fred moved on to the northwest to work for Seattle Archery and then on to making those great bows of his in his own shop.

Fred Anderson is one of my all time favorite bow builders

Fasco and Fred....I knew there was one I forgot!!

I'm compiling a list so as not to forget again THANKS :-)

actually frank eicholtz was the first person to use a scrim sheet in the construction of bow glass. his wovens made the best glass available at that time. Gordon and other glass manufacturers actually started rumors about his glass that put him out of business. fred bear was far from the first to make and use bow glass.

Larry..I always appreciate your historical knowledge.. So.. What inell is a scrimsheet?..:)

That like some woven rove fiberglass cloth like is used in boat building or what?..:) Jim

yes, jim, it is. frank was the first person to make bow glass with any kind of woven material in it. damon howatt really liked it a lot. all his first generation bows with fiberglass were eichholtz. he used an earlier one that I forget the name of that had a really thin layer of colored paper like material on the exposed side. if you touched it with sandpaper it disappeared and you had sort of bone colored stuff left. the glass wasn't very strong. later he worked with 3m on using a fiberglass they developed for the airplane industry. he used it until 3m grew as a company and decided that archery wasn't large enough for them as a market and ceased providing that material. it was much better than any product sold today. plus you could glue it with urac which made the limbs totally stable. no glue creep. when Gordon glass became the only one available the adhesive changed to epoxy because Gordon glass doesn't accept urac well.

Larry, I used a lot of 3m glass, and you're right the 3m glass was superior.

jaz5833, in San Diego there was Howard Abernathy,a crippled gentleman who made fine target bows in the 50s; and Corky Johnson that made a very high quality bow in the 50s and 60s; and also Custom Bow Co; and don't forget Wilson White. Frank Eicholtz got Gordon Plastics started in making bow glass. By the way, I used to do a lot of shooting with Rube and Mary Powell and their son, Mike.

jaz5833, I almost forgot to mention one of the greatest shooters in history and Nat'l field champion, Roy Dill, who was from San Diego.

Skookum,

Thanks so much for the names. I just our aquired an Eicholtz Neptune and a White Special, so I already have some of the better known San Diego bowyer examples.

Any other San Diego bowyer's that you might think of I would certainly appreciate hearing about them. This history is not well documented from what I can tell.

Thanks again - Jim

Hi Fred, I have a copy of "Toxicated" sitting right here. It seems a lot of those stories come from down there; a Mecca of traditional archery. That probably explains why the US Olympic training facility for archery is down there too. Between Stone Brewery and the modern Longbow, some good stuff has come from San Diego. :-) Thanks for the insights.

Fred

can you give me some information about Howard Abernathy's and Corky Johnson's work that might make it possible to search for one of their bows?

BTW, it would have been a great honor to have shot with the Powell's :-)

TIA - Jim

Well, as of today - thanks to Skookum, I am now the proud owner of a Custom Corky. Should have it in hand by July 7. I will post pics when then.

I've heard the Gelco bows made in San Diego (I have three) were a joint effort of a Gordon brother (G) Eicholtz (E) and somebody else (L?); G-E-L-company = Gelco. True? Anybody know who L was if so?

You need to check out Jerry Gentillali of Rancho Safari products. He invented the Cat quiver and Shaggy ghillie suit. He is from the San Diego area I believe and a true legend in the traditional archery community...although he'd never tell you that himself. He doesn't really get much recognition, but in my opinion is one of the coolest and most accomplished trad archers you'd ever meet!

BrokenArrow & superslamsam

Thanks for the info - I was unaware of both!

Starfire was another California bow company that had the White Special look to their bows in the early years.Then in the 1960's the Starfire line was built by the Wilson Brothers at Black Widow Ray Hill may have a couple Starfire models in his collection bd

...bd

A man named Falberth invented and had a patten on the modern laminate bow as we know it. It was 1949 or 1950 when I saw the first one. About 1950 Ann Marsten was shooting a Falberth. At that time everyone was shooting a straight bow or what was known at the time a semi-recurve. We all had to look at that bow she was shooting. This was at a tournament somewhere in WI. At the time Fred B was making semi-revurves and the famous aluminum laminate that almost broke him.

Thanks again everyone I'm really excited about all the San Diego bowyers and champions I've learned about here.

snagged this pic off ebay this morning bd

Barr Archery Boyer was Jerry Barr Good Shooters, beautiful laminates, there is 1 on the big site now

Smithwick!!! Another awesome shooting bow

West bows

Bowdoc,

Thanks for the heads up.....I'm now the proud owner!! Pictures will follow - when I get it. :-) :-)

that was a good hit right there Jaz I have the 40# mate to your new one but the one I have is black on both sides great shooting bows.I'll look and see if I can find any of the black widows with the starfire logo on them those are cool bows too and were mid 1960's bd

Silverhawk, it was William Folberth who was first to work with fiberglass laminations. Folberth also invented a handy gadget called the windshield wiper. 8^)) ...Fred Bear was credited with using unidirectional fiberglass first, although I don't know if he was or not. Probably was in mass manufacturing.

Folberth was from Cleavland and actualy had the pat. for the sight window on bows,at the time Bear archery was paying $5 for every bow with a window in it!! REB

I never dreamed that this thread would result in so much info - thanks everyone!!

I never dreamed that this thread would result in so much info - thanks everyone!!

Jaz, I live in San Diego and have noticed (to a much lesser degree than you) the local history of bowmaking and archery here. I look forward to seeing your collection and the book to follow (hint, hint)

George, yes he did. I forgot about the other gadget.

this is another one looks somewhat California-ish a bit guess where its listed for auction ??? bd

There is one on Ebay that is called NA-PO and was sold by Sherwood Archery in Iowa, and Hugh Rich in California. Possibly a California bow.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Na-Po-Bowyers-Long-Bow-45-at-28- Quality-bow-RARE-Archery-/290943442635? pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43bd949ecb

I like that NA-PO!

I'm glad I decided to keep my collecting interest within San Diego or I'd be poor real soon.

10 bows so far in only 10 months.......uhg! :-)

dang it that pic came out kind of smallish ??? I'll try that again bd

there that worked better this one has a bit of a smithwick look bd

NA-PO

LOVE it......thanks again for the GREAT info!!

I think the 50's and 60's really do have a monopoly on cool looking bows.

Fred Anderson describes on his "The Traditional Way" book the advantages of using fiberglass lams. And maybe some Eicholtz influence...

I see another White Special on ebay this morning man oh man them Calie built bows are coming out of the woodwork hey do not forget about Malibu Archery check em out bd

Am a little confused about these patents.... I thought patents lasted around 100 years, (example Colt's 1911 autoloader). ... If so why aren't these "sight window" and "fiberglass lams" patents still honored?

I doubt if Folberth is still living,him and his brother sold the pat. for wind shield wipers to Detroit for a million$ and took up archery as a hobby after that. REB

A patent does not give a right to make or use or sell an invention.[17] Rather, a patent provides the right to exclude others[17] from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent, which is usually 20 years from the filing date[4] subject to the payment of maintenance fees. A patent is a limited property right the government gives inventors in exchange for their agreement to share details of their inventions with the public. Like any other property right, it may be sold, licensed, mortgaged, assigned or transferred, given away, or simply abandoned. A patent, being an exclusionary right, does not necessarily give the patent owner the right to exploit the patent. For example, many inventions are improvements of prior inventions that may still be covered by someone else's patent.[17] If an inventor obtains a patent on improvements to an existing invention which is still under patent, they can only legally use the improved invention if the patent holder of the original invention gives permission, which they may refuse. Some countries have "working provisions" that require the invention be exploited in the jurisdiction it covers. Consequences of not working an invention vary from one country to another, ranging from revocation of the patent rights to the awarding of a compulsory license awarded by the courts to a party wishing to exploit a patented invention. The patentee has the opportunity to challenge the revocation or license, but is usually required to provide evidence that the reasonable requirements of the public have been met by the working of invention.

Thanks once again to Skookum, I just purchased a "Custom by Abernathy". San Diego made bow number 7, it's 66" / 42# and very similar to the Starfire bow I purchased earlier in the thread.

It's been painted but otherwise seems to be in great shape. Sights were installed at one point, so I'll have to fill the holes and remove the paint.

I'll post a before and after pic when it's done.

jaz, that is just a great keepsake...full of memories. Not because of what it is but because of who gave it to you. Jawge

Jawge - I might have misled you on this one......I didn't get it from Fred, but without his input on San Diego Bowyers, I would not have known to even look for this example.

Fred mentioned this name to me earlier in the thread.

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