Welchman Longbows are crafted by master bowyer Gerald Welch.
A lifelong traditional archer and bowhunter, Gerald has been making traditional archery equipment for more than half a century.
Welchman Longbows are acclaimed by traditional bowhunters, historical recreationalists, collectors and longbow enthusiasts the world over.
Each longbow crafted by Gerald must meet the exacting criteria expected by each group of these discriminating archers. The first of these criteria is function. Each bow must be quick of cast and accurate. The quality if the Yew goes hand in hand with the performance of the bow. All of the Yew used to craft Welchman Longbows comes from dense high altitude stands found high in the Oregon Cascade Mountains. Often difficult to reach, and even more difficult to transport to a road, each Yew log is carried out by hand, thus guaranteeing that the log will arrive with no injury to the wood. Every tree is harvested by Gerald himself. Only the very finest of bow wood is cut, leaving three to four hundred Yew trees standing for every one harvested.
Along with function, quality of craftsmanship is at the top of Gerald's list of standards for his bows.
Each bow Gerald crafts is unique unto itself. Every Yew stave is different from another so when crafting a bow from a Yew stave, that bow has its own look, personality and quirks. The true craftsman, like a good parent, coaxes out of the wood all of its quality while suppressing the negative things that might be there. What comes as the final product is a bow that anyone would be proud to own and shoot.
Last but certainly not least, is a bow that is beautiful to behold. Without a high level of craftsmanship, beauty will suffer.
One of the drawing points of an English Longbow or American Flatbow crafted as a self bow if Pacific Yew is its inherent beauty, but that beauty can be marred by poor workmanship, poor quality wood or both. Welchman Longbows have been praised by literally hundreds of satisfied customers as "the most beautiful bow I have ever seen."
A customer in Wisconsin writes, "Gerald, I just received my English Longbow. I have had it sitting in front of me now for two hours and I still can't take my eyes off of it. It is the highest example of a bowyer's craft." Two weeks later, this same customer wrote to say that the bow shot even better than it looked.
Function, craftsmanship and beauty: the three main standards that go into every Welchman Longbow. Gerald stakes his considerable reputation with every bow he crafts and sends out on those three standards of excellence.
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© 2007
Gerald Welch
Welchman Longbow Company
P.O. Box WWP - Whale Pass
Ketchikan, Alaska 99950-0280
