From the Den of the Old Bowhunter, Chester Stevenson via Nick Nott

From the Den of the Old Bowhunter

One of Chet Stevenson's arrow analyzers

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Nick Nott at his beautiful log home in Eugene, OR.  The purpose of the visit was to take a look at Nick's bow collection.  Nick, the editor of From the Den of the Old Bowhunter, the Stories and Photographs of Chester Stevenson, has an extensive collection of bows, arrows, quivers, and even "arrow analyzers" from the 1930's that were passed down to him by his father. This collection is a who's who in early Oregon Archery.  There are many Chet Stevenson bows, but also Gilman Keasey, and Harry Hobson, among others.  Gilman Keasey was an national Archery Champion (1935, 1936), and archery instructor at Oregon State University, and also made yew bows for use in the classes he taught and also for a number of other local college and university archery programs.  Harry Hobson ran a successful archery business in Salem, Or; he was also a maker of bows.

A 1935 Harry Hobson bow

 Chets bows were made of varied design, some backed with rawhide, some with whale baleen, and some left unbacked despite severe growth-ring violations that would make most present day Bowyer's cringe.  It became quite clear that Chet was an adventurous bowyer, just as much as he was an adventerous bowhunter.   It appeared that the whale baleen was Chet's favorite backing material, After seeing the beauty of polished baleen on a yew bows back, I now know why he favored this fiberglass like natural material for backing his bows.  Nick explained that the numerous crossbows Chet made were primarily to trade with the Inuits for baleen.

Nick Nott showing one of Chet's snakey yew longbows

 Nick also had a number of Chet's arrows and quivers hanging about his archery den.  Chet's arrows were not the most attractive arrows, showing a rather blocky cresting with odd colors, but he was very practical, for instance,he glued his fletching directly to the wood shaft rather than to a crown paint or sealer. I would also bet, after seeing the arrow analyzer, that Chet's arrows were matched very precisely.

Some of Chet's arrows

As a venturing bowyer, it was quite enlightening to see this collection. I am very grateful to Nick for sharing it with me.


If you are interested in Chester Stevenson, I highly recommend Nick Nott's book, From the Den of the Old Bowhunter The Stories and Photographs of Chester Stevenson, Edited by Nick Nott.

Available from Echo Archery


Thanks for joining us,
Carsn Brown
Echo Archery