Fast forward to today , they opened the doors for a few hours in the afternoon ... An Industrial open house geared towards misc support vendors , suppliers , bankers etc. ... Even the Mayor stopped by !
I got an invite to attend , snap a few pictures and grab an afternoon snack , from local bow shop owner George Wagner ...
I bought my 1st Excalibur Relayer from George in the early 80's and George has done business with Bill and Kathy for that many years as well ...
Over the years .. I have owned pretty well every hunting model Excalibur has made .. and am currently the proud owner of # 100 , Y25 Relayer ..
It still amazes me to see how far they have come ... from building individual crossbows in a cleaned out pig barn near Breslau in the early 80's .. to the state of the art plant they are in today ! ...
From local sales , to Industry leader and world wide sales !
Here are a few pictures from this afternoon ...
Peter takes a quick pause from meeting suppliers etc. .. and poses for a quick picture at the Y25 Relayer display ...
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/APeterwithY25800x532.jpg)
I wander thru the plant and snap shots from misc raw material ..
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Brawmaterial800x532.jpg)
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Crawmaterial800x532.jpg)
To the misc process stations , that make up the production process ..
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Dprocess800x532.jpg)
Recognize this guy ? ... That is forum member " Doemaster " , Excalibur trigger man and warranty dude !
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Etriggerman800x532.jpg)
Although I didn't take pictures of every step in the process , in order of operations ( didn't think that was good idea ! ) , I did get one here and there that shows a basic plant over view .. not in any particualr order ..
Building bolts ...
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Fprocess800x532.jpg)
Putting together right stuff packages ..
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Lprocess800x532.jpg)
Into the machine shop ...
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Gprocess800x532.jpg)
From older equipment ...
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Hprocess800x532.jpg)
To the misc modern CNC machining centers ...
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Iprocess800x532.jpg)
Misc nearly finished components ...
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Kprocess800x532.jpg)
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Jprocess800x532.jpg)
The history table ... showing the development of the bows over the years ..
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Mprogress800x532.jpg)
And of course ... the many trophies Bill and Kathy have amassed over the years ... here are only a few ..
Bill's beauty Piebald buck taken near Fergus Ontario ..
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Otrophy800x532.jpg)
Another Fergus buck displayed in Kathy's office ... I wish more pictures turned out .. the Zebra mount was impressive ! ... I was shooting indoors without a flash and some frames didn't trun out ..
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Ntrophy800x532.jpg)
And misc exotic critters , spread out around the plant ... here are only a few ..
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Ptrophy800x532.jpg)
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Qtrophy800x532.jpg)
And last but not least ... the mid afternoon feeding frenzy !
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Vfood800x532.jpg)
Lot's of tastey treats ... including cubed venison roast and venison meatballs !
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Rfood800x532.jpg)
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Sfood800x532.jpg)
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Tfood800x532.jpg)
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/Ufood800x532.jpg)
Bill and Kathy were pretty well tied up with misc suppliers etc. , here is a shot of Kathy with Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr and Plant Mgr. Brian Hackbart...
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/WTrio800x532.jpg)
I talked with Bill for awhile , but never snapped a picture , cause he was usually surrounded !
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Congrat's to you Bill and Kathy on a successfull 25 years !! And thanks to all the other Excalibur staff that take the time to ensure a quality product !
One last shot of the beauty Y25 Relayer !
![Image](http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/RJpentax/XY25800x532.jpg)