Since Dean Torges passed away, his website has remained online; I assume a family member is maintaining it and keeping it up and running.

But seeing as there are many well written articles and how-to instructions, would it be possible to bring/copy it all over to tradgang for preservation?  Obviously tradgang admins would need to work it with Dean Torges' estate managers, go through proper channels, etc.  Its just that every few months when I end up on his site, I expect to see it taken down with no idea where to find his work.

That's a great idea....I would just need contact info if anyone has it.

Terry, I have a contact number for you

Got it....just got off the phone with her...she is tickled we are going to preserve it. ....

Man I hope that's tickled and not ticked.  LOL

I sure miss Dean, he was a great guy to sit down over a drink and talk the night away.

Mike

Yes Mike...thx...dang phones!!!

I am SO glad to hear this.  This is museum-worthy stuff that needs to be preserved, and I had no idea how to make that happen.  Thank you Mary Torges, thank you Terry, and thank you RJones for posting the idea.

Dean was one of the very special guys in our sport, and a great, fascinating, and sometimes challenging(!) friend.

I still think of him and Jerry Pierce on a weekly basis, and really miss them both!

Thanks again for this effort that is underway!!!   

Daryl

One year at Cloverdale a friend was returning  some books I had lent him. One of them was , The Shootingist Gentleman by Nash Buckingham. Dean noticed the book and asked if he could borrow it. He had hunted on the planation mentioned in the book and the old timers were talking about the book but he had never heard of it. Of course I said yes.

A few weeks later some of Dean's smoked bacon arrived at my door. You could smell the smoke flavor thru the vacuum packaging and it was delicious. Dean later contacted me and said the books were in return mail. I waited and waited but they never showed. We discussed it a few times and just decided they got lost in the mail. He was bummed.

A couple of months later he contacted me about the books. He had packaged them up but put them somewhere and forgot about them thinking he had mailed them. He said, "Don't tell anybody  "

And I didn't until now 

Ah....I too was lucky enough to receive some of his bacon....

He sent it in return of me sending him some of my bison I'd killed.

1st time I met him was at Cloverdale 2003...met him, Charlie Lamb, and Spudly...Jerry Pierce's son joined us as we shot the coarse....

Great weekend for sure....need to find those pics....

Again...Cloverdale 2003....

Dean, Charlie, Spudly, and Jerry Pierce's son.....well before digital cameras.

Tradgang was only 3 months old...

Go to the topic....then click the video....'Cloverdale Dream Team'....cause it was a dream to be able to meet and shoot with these guys...

Cloverdale Dream Team

Sounds good! Thanks Terry for getting it started.  Thanks Ron for sharing the contact number.

Robert, et al, thanks for outstanding idea and getting things rolling on this. Mr. Torges' writings have had a huge influence on my traditional archery journey. Again, thank you!

One year at Denton, I was determine to make my first selfbow.  Dean was there and I'd run to him every time I'd remove some yellow wood.  He'd pencil in areas I needed to remove more wood.  Great generous teacher.  That bow brought down a bear with a flint point arrow.  I do miss the Man!
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I've been lucky to have had a few of Deans bows.  The one I won't sell was his Bamboo Backed Yew bow that he made for the PBS St Louis 2000 Auction.  His inscription says...

Yew:
cut by Chester Stevenson
stored by Gilman Keasey
liberated by Jim Fetrow

64" 50#@27" Yew & Bamboo

Firestyx by Dean Torges  PBS St Louis 2000

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Great idea.  I bow and . . . harrumph . . . gun hunt from a variant of a Dean Torges Tree Seat every year.  And a Bowyers Edge is my tool of choice for shaft tapering.  Though Dean said mine should have been shaped (it's still "clunky" and unstreamlined).

He was a good man and very much missed.

I was an osage stave gathering failure until I read his book "Hunting the Osage Bow", I never ruined another stave from improper handling after reading the book.

Early on in my bow making journey when I described the way I made bows he said I was "a disgrace to the true art of bow making". At first I took offence to his comment but it pushed me to work harder and perfect my craft which entailed a lot less following my own wacky path and alot more following the advice of master boyers like Dean.

Later on after my bows had won countless state and national championships and placed in the IBO worlds he was a bit more complementary, saying "well, my bows never won anything".

I liked him, he could be a bit cantankerous but he sure knew his stuff.

After making my own selfbow....Dean came out with his book 'Hunting the Osage Bow'....so I had to make another with the faceted tillering.....

Bear Necessities is her name....

As you can see, She has taken on some beautiful color over the years....

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So happy Dean will have a place here. He was a very unique guy. Sent me a fantastic Osage bamboo backed firestyk as a surprise gift, I will never forget him and still talk to him while in the woods.

Dean also submitted one of the 1st(if not the 1st) video clips on Tradgang....

I'll see if I can't round it up....