Hello, I am new here at Tradgang, allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Charlie Hinkel, I live in Maine but grew up in Pennsylvania where I worked in my Dad's bow shop when I was a teenager. My Dad, John Hinkel, RIP, taught me all the aspects of building glass recurves, take-downs, and longbows. He was building bows since the 1940's. I really enjoyed working alongside my Dad, and Sometimes he would get upset with me when I did too much sanding on a riser grip and it got to thin. I have come a long way since then. Back then my Dad and Fedora where the only bow makers we knew of in central P.A. My Dad was not friends with Fedora, I don't think he liked him very well, as he viewed him as his competition. Back then, in the mid 1970's-1980's, my father kept it too himself what he knew about making bows, and encouraged me to keep my mouth shut about how we made them. In 1982 we moved to Maine, I got married in 1984  and eventually set up shop in my basement this time as my Father was now retired and wanted to follow different paths. I made bows  for a couple years in this shop as a hobby, but it wasn't too long until I accepted a welding job downstate and my wife and I, and new baby, moved into an apartment where I could not have a shop. A"friend" of mine offered part of his garage to me to build bows in where I built a few bows until things got too crowded, and out the door I went, with my equipment. Since then, we have moved many times including a big move to Tennessee in 1991.  We found it difficult to save any money or get ahead in those days, so once again we took an apartment=no shop again. I did build a bow in my friends machine shop, but that did not work out either. Fast forward to the year 2010, we finally were able to buy a house in the country in Tennessee. To me, the location was perfect and had a garage that was suitable for bow making. I was working a full time job at the time, and would would work in the shop evenings and weekends. I managed to build three bows and was right in the middle of a new one when my wife found out she was pregnant! Now, come on, how can this be? Lol. My wife has had a lot of medical issues over the years, and we were both in our mid 40's and figured she wasn't able to have another baby. At this point, we only had one child, and he was all grown up with a child of his own. So I got that bow finished, and then spent most of my time taking care of my wife, who was  not in good health, and when our baby was born, I took care of them both. It is an amazing thing to have a baby at this season of life, and also a challenge. He is a truly wonderful boy and I am so glad he is here! So, not long after we found out she was expecting, my wife left her job because it was too much for her. We soon found ourselves going into debt and falling behind on the bills. The big house payment became too much for us, and we eventually lost the house, and moved back to Maine into her parents spare bedroom. Wow what a lot of struggle over the years! Once again=no shop to make bows. By now you have probably  figured out that I have the bow making bug-big time! Archery and bow making is my life passion, if it wasn't, I would have given up by now. Here we are, two years later and  we now have our own little house with a dry basement. You know what that means!  Time to get the equipment and wood out of storage, many thanks to all family members who helped us to move all the shop tools. Many times I have considered giving up on my dream of bow making, it seemed like no sooner had I begun in a new shop, something would happen to put the brakes on the works. I have no regrets in all of this, I believe that the Creator has everything planned out as to how it is to be, so how can I argue with that?  I still don't get too much shop time as I spend a lot of time with my family, and I am gun shy (worrying) that this bow venture won't last either, but here I am, seeking out others for friendship on Tradgang and Facebook, wanting now to share what I have learned and seeking new ideas I haven't thought of. I am one of those who have been watching from the sidelines for a few years but not ready to join just yet.  I am not sure how much I will be able to post, as my time is limited, but I am happy to be here friends!

If you're from Pa, then ya should be ok. Just watch out for those girls in here from Mo...  

Welcome aboard.

Welcome to the forum!  Glad you finally have a place to set up shop and keep us posted.

Welcome- looking forward to seeing some of your bows!

welcome home brutha  

Welcome! I hope this is just the beginning of many  bow building adventures

One big family on here!

Nice to have you on board, Charlie.

Welcome Charlie.

Thank you all for the many well wishes, I look forward to posting pictures as soon as I figure out how to. Imgur seems like the way to go, unless someone knows a better way.  Wish it was as easy as Facebook to post pics.

Sent you two PM's Charlie.

  welcome Charlie    

Welcome from the Mississippi Delta

James

Welcome! I wish you the best. Jawge

Welcome, glad to hear things are settling down and you'll be able to build some bows as time allows.
-Jay