Steve Stratton has been making bows commercially since 2005 and in this time has gained extensive knowledge of the military longbow, or warbows of England. He was responsible for re-introducing high altitude Italian yew, used for making heavy draw weight longbows back into modern bow making. His research of the Mary Rose finds, along with Mark Stretton, has helped him in his pursuit of recreating the military bows of our past. Steve’s bows have gained a reputation for their high performance and build quality and as such he was awarded the title of “Master Bowyer” with The Craft Guild of Bowyers and Fletchers in 2008. Steve was one of the three founding members of ETAS (European Traditional archery Society) and was also one of the founder members of the EWBS (English Warbow Society).

Richard Tonge – DIY Archery
Rich has been with the company since September 2007 and is apprentice bowyer to Steve. He aims to follow Steve into the Craft Guild of Bowyers and Fletchers and eventually to become a full-time bowyer himself, giving the company the fairly unusual position of having two in-house Master Bowyers.