Custom Bow- SHORT LIFE SPAN!

[Charlie3]

Oh man that's rough!! And bad timing.

 While I feel for you, it is very difficult for any craftsman to replace something 5 years later when he has no idea whether his product has been properly cared for. Of course I am not saying that you did not care for the bow, just that the bowyer has no way to know that.

I am an insurance agent and I can tell you we would be broke if we believe what all our customers tell us...$$ issues make many a man dishonest.


You would be perfectly reasonable to no longer do business through the bowyer, but I think you cannot be too critical of his decision considering the age of the bow.

[Orion]

Don't know if that bow has a lot of r/d, but if it doesn't, a 29 1/2- inch draw puts a lot of stress on those limbs and the riser.  I've found that the heavier the limbs (i.e., draw weight) the more prone to bow breakage.  

The trend lately is for folks to want/shoot shorter and shorter bows.   And some of those shooters have long draw lengths -- 29-31 inches or more.  Some designs can handle that, but a lot of them can't.  

Though a lot of guys with your draw length or longer shoot 62-inch bows with no trouble, I think that's pushing the limits with a lot of  designs. And, of course, not everyone who hangs out a shingle builds a good bow.

The breakage is unfortunate, but it does happen.  Better luck on the next go around.

[gringol]

Originally posted by Charlie3:
Oh man that's rough!! And bad timing.

 While I feel for you, it is very difficult for any craftsman to replace something 5 years later when he has no idea whether his product has been properly cared for. Of course I am not saying that you did not care for the bow, just that the bowyer has no way to know that.

I am an insurance agent and I can tell you we would be broke if we believe what all our customers tell us...$$ issues make many a man dishonest.


You would be perfectly reasonable to no longer do business through the bowyer, but I think you cannot be too critical of his decision considering the age of the bow.

I'm not sure the failure of the bow itself or the Bowyer's refusal to fix the bow is the problem here.  The problem is the bogus line about being left in the sun.  If you just can't fix it under warranty because it's 5yrs old, then just say that.

[Ron Vought]

These things don't typically happen. Would have thought the builder would have at least met you half price on a new bow.

Ron

[JohnV]

I had a takedown longbow blow up on my porch deck.  Bright sunny day with temps around 80.  Bowyer gave me credit towards a new set of limbs.  Said they had some issues with a new batch of glue they were using.

[wingnut]

Another reason for a bow to come apart at that point is over draw.  All bows have an engineered max draw and when that is exceeded other things start to bend and bad things happen.  Not saying that's what happened here but it is another cause of them coming apart at the fades.

Mike

[WIND WALKER]

I appreciate all of your takes on this. I can understand somewhat why he chose his position not knowing what the bow has been through however my position is I do know how it's been cared for and that is why I feel that it was a glue failure or a unforeseeable flaw.   Thanks again for all the input.  Brock.

[Pointer]

Hunt with the Bear...its a better bow anyway

[WIND WALKER]

I have to agree with Ya Pointer!!

[Roger Norris]

That's a simple glue failure....

[Diamond Paul]

I could see it delaminating if you left it in the back seat of your car on a hot day, something like that.  Maybe if you left it out in direct sunlight, strung, on a very hot day for several hours even.  Not what you are describing.  I had a bow explode when a nock broke on the shot, resulting in a complete dry-fire.  I've had that happen with other bows, and they did not break, or even get harmed that I could see.  Even though I really liked that bow, I never bought another bow from that bowyer.