If you want a good deal on a handcrafted bow, I'd look to the classifieds. However I think there are a lot of bowyers out there UNDER charging for their craft.
$1000 on a custom, handmade bow is a lot of money but that doesn't go very far in a shop. Most of these bowyers have upwards of $20,000 in equipment, stock thousands of dollars in high end woods (a lot of which has to be thrown away), and their time and experience have to be worth something. I make handmade knives and when I sell locally I give 9.5% to taxes. When tax season comes around I get self employment taxes. Added together that hits me for ~40% of the sale in taxes. So a $1000 knife breaks down into:
$1000
-$400 - taxes
-$200-400 in materials/makers cost depending on the handle materials and steel
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$200-400 profit to be used to pay for labor, insurance, a shop (hopefully with new equipment on occasions), and experience/waste which does happen and does cost money Divide that out by the number of hours to build a bow and you'll see our bowyers aren't getting rich.
Likewise, if you stroll through any major sporting goods store your likely to find tons of factory rifles for $500-1500 which coincidentally is what most handmade bows are running. The guns likely have higher tooling costs to manufacture and similar materials costs to a bow but have MUCH less labor. I'm not so sure that a custom bow is all that expensive when you look at more than just the sticker price.
I've bought, shot, and sold hundreds while trying to find a favorite. I didn't loose money on almost any of my used bow purchases/sales. When I found exactly what I liked, I promptly placed an order for a brand new bow from that bowyer and didn't blink twice when he quoted me what he needs to make it happen. My cash for his labor is going to be far cheaper than for me to tool up to make my own and go through the decades of learning that Bob has already done for me.
Topic: Bows are Expensive! (Read 5166 times)
