Question for bowyers who do shows

[Mark Smeltzer]

When you display your bows do you leave them strung.Or maybe the better question is do you let people handle the bows when strung up. I would want to pull it back and check it out if it were me but you have no idea who you are dealing with at these shows.
Im afraid someone is going to do somthing stupid and  dry fire one. Am I just being paranoid?
Thanks,
Mark

[LittleBen]

You are not paranoid.

No matter how many bows I show my dad, he invariably takes the unstrung bow, grabs the handle backwards, and grabs the loos string, and pulls the string until the top loop is being stretched out by the top limb, as though if he just pulls hard enough he'll be able to check the draw weight and sight down the thing lol.

I ask him not to do it EVERY SINGLE TIME. He must not be listening.

So that's a guy I know and love, and he still screws it up every time. For someone I dont know, it's a tough call. Anything could happen.

[Mark Smeltzer]

That's kinda what I was thinking.  I have never had a booth at one of the shows but plan to do a few this spring.
I have had so many people that didn't know if the bow was upside-down and backwards or what.

[LittleBen]

It's a tough call, because you also wanna show off the bows strung, as they would be used.

[Bowjunkie]

I've never set up a table to sell stuff, but I learned my lesson early on when passing bows around for folks to look at. Those who never handled one, and namely compound users, are the worst. They really rip em back hard and far, and since they don't shoot with fingers on the string, they often pull right past any semblance of an anchor point on their face. Glass bows, I don't care, they're not likely to hurt them, but selfbows that I tillered precisely for a certain shooting holds and draw length? Nope. I won't hand a strung bow to just anyone, and not even someone I know is familiar with wooden bows if I'm not 100% positive their shooting style, draw length, and such suits the bow. My most trusted friends and fellow bow makers don't draw my personal hunting selfbows, and I generally won't draw theirs. Just how it is.

[Roy from Pa]

Remember Bobby drawing your Osage bow at east huntingdon that day? Crack, LOL

[Mark Smeltzer]

I have selfbows and short glass bows. I was letting a potential customer shoot at the shop one day and he was doing good for a few shots and the next thing I know he's pulling back past his ears. It was a glass bow and could handle it but heck the arrow wasn't even that long pulled it right past the shelf.
I worry about people .....sometimes. .lol

[Bowjunkie]

Yep. I had shot that thing over a hundred times but hadn't put a finish on it yet. It had a nickel sized knot hole through the top limb and cracked along the grain right below the hole. It was 8 degrees that morning and Bob felt a lot worse about it than I did :^) Yep, I remember.

[Eric Krewson]

I used to set up a table at big tournaments and never handed a person a strung selfbow because they will jerk it back 100% of the time.

I would ask them their draw length, string a suitable bow for them, give them some arrows and tell them to try it out.

Most were not familiar with selfbows so I would give them a quick selfbow lesson of do's and don'ts.

[Mark Smeltzer]

And I'm worried a bout a dry fire on a glass bow too.

[Bow man]

Mark you really need to have them strung and ready to be grabbed and handled. and yes you will have one get dry fired by some one or dropped or smacked a tip on a cement floor. it always happens .  Most will not wait for you to string up a bow they want to test you have 30 seconds to take care of them or they will be gone. So if you are with another person you can't take care of two at one time.  my .02

[scrub-buster]

I saw a guy tie a strand of FF bow string material from his riser to the bow string the exact length of the full draw on that bow.  He could pass the bow around and nobody could overdraw it.  He even shot the 3D course with the string on there.  It won't help a dry fire but it prevents over drawing.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I suppose if selling a bunch isn't your number one concern, then you should keep them unbraced and work with customers one on one. Not the best for volume sales, but the best to ensure proper handling.

[Mad Max]

Originally posted by scrub-buster:
I saw a guy tie a strand of FF bow string material from his riser to the bow string the exact length of the full draw on that bow.  He could pass the bow around and nobody could overdraw it.  He even shot the 3D course with the string on there.  It won't help a dry fire but it prevents over drawing.

good idea
Make one with black glass and simple wood riser to hand to people to draw.

X2 on what Bow Man said too

Tough call

[Mark Smeltzer]

Thanks for your input guys, I really appreciate it!!!

[BigJim]

I have 150 plus bows hanging at most every event and do 15 events most years. Now that is used bows, new Bear bows and bows of my make. I never string them before someone asks me to, or I ask them if they would like me to.  
I usually won't unstring if it doesn't sell. It takes so little time for me to string one and I will do it while helping others.
Iight have 40 bows or more to unstring at the end of an event.
Most will wait a minute or they weren't too interested anyway.
I don't ever recall a dry fire, and I'm sure I have broken more bows than my customers. Always a used bow with a flaw, seen or not.
BigJim