Have you ever seen a D/Howatt Bow marked like this?

[L. E. Carroll]

I recently picked up this beautiful late 60's-early 70's 53# 60" Damon Howatt Super Diablo from another "Bow Trader" at the TBW Rendzevous.    :D    

It was in beautiful condition. However, I noticed the "Damon Howatt Yakima WA" sticker was missing... Oh well, it was in great shape and the perfect draw weight.. Besides the fact that I had been looking for one of these for a few years now and this one shot so well and extremely fast too boot.

Yesterday, while cleaning it up, I was surprized to see this stenciling while looking for a serial number to help me date the bow..     :eek:    

I'm wondering if any of you have ever encountered this?          

I totally checked out the bow.. It has perfect tiller, beautiful "Origional" finish, excellent glue lines, and overlays, along with flawless Brazilian Rosewood, no twists, and string tracks true down the limbs when "lined up" and viewed from the belly.

There is some very slight crazing at the fade out's which is to be expected on bows aprox 40-45 years old... The only thing I could find questionable, was some rather heavy file or sand marks under the finish on the sides of the bottom limb and extending aprox 8-10" above the tip. Possibly this is the reason for the the "Rej." stencil?

I'm confident this bow is a shooter and plan on using it for it's intended purpose.        

Has anyone else ever encountered a bow marked like this?    :confused:  

Gene

   

[L. E. Carroll]

[L. E. Carroll]

[L. E. Carroll]

Nobody???

So what are your thoughts on a bow marked in this manner?  

[Whip]

I'm not sure of the marking Gene, but I do know that you have one of my favorite bows of all time!  Those Super D's are just beautiful, and great shooters.
It would seem strange to me that they would mark it as a reject because of file marks.  Why wouldn't they have just sanded them out?  The writing was done before the final finish was applied.
Try posting this over on the history/collecting forum.  There are some guys there that will most likely know the answer to your question.

[L. E. Carroll]

Thanks'Whip...

I have moved it over there and found one guy with another bow from them with no ser#.  However his is not marked "Rej" like this one.

Maybe after hunting comes and goes, I'll send it to you for a visual inspection to see if you can figure out or find any manufacturing flaws.

I cannot envision them letting a bow out into "the public" that could potentially hurt anyone due to use.. I do know it "feels Great", is very fast, the pefect weight for me, and appears to be in Awesome Condition.

Thanks'
Gene

[Jeff Roark]

I drooled over Whips Super D. at the Tennessee Classic. He had it hanging up there like it was for sale. I think he did that just to watch some of us knuckleheads grieve.

Gene, thats a good looking bow right there. I want to own a Howatt one of these days and a Super Diablo is my first choice.

[reddogge]

It could have been a custom ordered bow for REJ ordered without logo and initials in lieu of serial numbers. Stranger things have happened.

[Ted Fry]

Why not go to the source , contact Larry Hatfield and ask him .
If anyone would know Larry would
He spends some time over at the new plant in Walla Walla , mostly mon-thurs

[Night Wing]

That is a beautiful looking recurve for it's age. As Ted Fry stated, contact Larry Hatfield for the "REJ" info marked on your bow.

[Shawn Leonard]

You can also find Larry at tradtalk as well. I agree that it does not mean reject. Must have another meaning. Shawn

[Bow Bum]

Maybe draw weight was off, thus sold-given away as a "reject"?

B

[bowslinger]

Is it possible bows with blemishes or other minor defects were given to employees or friends rather than being sold?

[Jack Guard]

I dont know anything about that bow but it sure is Beautiful !