In the modern age of archery, amid intricate ligh weight compound bows, carbon arrows, and a plethora of gadgets, there is a small but dedicated group of archers who cling to the traditional way.
Traditional' archery means using wooden longbows and recurves, shooting arrows made of the original arrow material, wood.
Jim Rebuck, of J&M Traditions, near Dornsife, in southern Northumberland county, is dedicated to the traditional way. A longtime hunter, Rebuck at one time used compound bows. The attraction of the compound bow soon faded and Rebuck gradually drifted back to the simple ways of traditional archery.
One morning while on his daily walk, which was part of his rehab from one of several surgeries, he came upon a collection of archery equipment and bought it up. He began studying traditional archery and making arrows for another dealer. In the late 80s, with the popularity of traditional archery on the rise, Rebuck struck out on his own and J&M Traditions was born.
"We did a lot of shows," Rebuck said. "We've been to archery shows from New England to the mid-west."
J&M Traditions has been a regular at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg for nearly 20 years, and recently attended the Eastern Traditional Show at Denton Hill, in Potter County. The Eastern Traditional Show is one of the largest traditional shoots in the world.
"Most people get into traditional archery for the challenge it provides," Rebuck says, "I don't feel handicapped with traditional archery; it's just another way of doing it."
Traditional archery is also changing, according to Rebuck.
"Possibly because of more modern archers moving into the traditional arena," he says, "we are now seeing carbon and aluminum arrows used, they don't realize that true traditional archery is with wood arrows."
Building custom arrows has become the backbone of Rebuck's business. It can become a very detailed and intricate procedure to build custom arrows, many of which end up as much a work of art as a tool.
Rebuck starts with bare cedar shafts. Other types of wood such as ash, hickory and maple can be used, but Rebuck prefers cedar and is experimenting with poplar. The first step is to check for straightness and to observe the lay of the grain. He then finds the strongest part of the shaft, that's where the cock feather is placed as that is the part of the shaft that has to "bend" around the bow when the arrow is shot. Next, the shafts are checked for "spine" or stiffness, then weighed in grains. Moisture can change the spine and the weight. Next they are bundled, usually by the dozen, according to spine and grain weight. Then the shafts have the nock taper and the point taper ground by a machine that resembles a large pencil sharpener. The next machine sands a slight taper to the front and back sections of the shaft. The shafts now need to be re-spined and re-weighed, then stained with min-wax and dipped in clear urethane. After a final sanding, the "crown," or nocked end of the shaft receives a dip of colored paint which will be the base for whatever decorative finish it will receive.
After a day of drying, the cresting is applied, these are the small decorative lines that adore the area of the fletching (feathers). Two more clear coats are added and after drying, the nock is applied. Traditional archery uses turkey feathers for fletching. The fletchings must be cut to length and glued to the shaft. This is where some intricate detail can come into play, with different feathers used to match the cresting on the shafts.
"I can fletch a dozen simple arrows in less than an hour," Rebuck says, "but the intricate detailed patterns required by some custom orders can take up to 13 hours to complete."
Rebuck continues to sell bows and other related traditional archery equipment, but his custom arrow work is heralded throughout the traditional archery world. J&M custom arrows can be found from Europe to several countries in the Far East.
It is plain to see that artistry is alive in well in this segment of traditional archery.
Contact J&M Traditions at 570-758-2190, JMTradit@aol.com, or visit the website at www.JMTraditions.com
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Discussion
Traditional archery lives on through dedicated business
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