Received my Jason Kendall "Kanati" in the mail on friday. Will start by saying that Jason was a pleasure to deal with throughout the process. Several times I had questions after our initial contact and order. He always either picked up or called back to answer any questions promptly, patiently and honestly.
We discussed length, weight, black or clear glass, actionwood or dymondwood etc... I settled on a black glass, Walnut actionwood, black/tan overlay and black/tan tips. Kind of wanted to stay with the black/tan theme, so no red in this one. The bow is 58", #53 at 28", i thought about going #55 but glad i settled on a lower weight.
Initial impression on opening the box and taking the bow out of the sock was the very nice "matte" hunting finish. Ive seen alot of matte finished bows, but have to say this one is the most purposefull of them all, very consistent and from all initial contact very durable.
The fit/craftsmanship are top notch, meaning that there are no "uneven" lamination lines, tapers etc. The string notches are cut evenly, deep and smooth with no rough edges burrs etc. The tips are robust without being "bulky" or blocky looking, and more importantly to me they are ground symetrically (I have recieved more than 1 big name bow with tips and string grooves that were assymetrical).
On the "cool" touch side of things is Jasons emblem, which in my view is the best in the business. You will see a good photo of it below, nothing like seeing a big skull mount to make me want to get out into the woods and hunt.
What really grabbed me about handling the bow was the handle. There are just a few little things that you cant see in the photo, very slight, very subtle but WORK when you pick the bow up. This bow definitely has the most comfortable and what I will call "repeatable" grip I have experienced. When I say "repeatable" I mean every time I pick it up, I get the same sweet spot, without shift... without thought.... without fail. The finish also helps in the "grip" department, as it almost has a textured feel, and my guess is that it will be plenty of traction. I was thinking of adding a leather grip, but dont want to mess with the perfect feel/locator indexes of how it is now.
I wasnt able to hardly shoot on friday, literally shot 3 or 4 arrows then a storm blew in. These 3 or 4 were without silencers of any type, and the brace set way too low. They still hit the mark at 15 yards, was acceptably quiet (even with brace too low and no silencers).
Added some wool puff balls, set the brace at 7-1/4", and the bow really came to life. FIrst thing I notice is that for a 58" bow it is very smooth, and at 28+ there was no stack at all. I was mostly shocked at how quiet the bow is, much more so than other fwd. handle types ive shot, with no limb vibration felt at all either. I would say it is more quiet than most of the typical 62-64" R/D type bows out there, which really surprised me.
When I do my part Im getting nice fist size groups at 12-15 yard wich for me is GREAT. Every now and then I pull one, as ive not shot in a while and it shows. The bow is capable of much more in the accuracy dept. than I can currently deliver, will be working on this between now and hunting season.
While not infatuated with "speed" , I will say that this bow at #53 is noticably faster and "flatter" in trajectory/cast then other bows i own or have owned in the 54-57lb. range.
I guess if there is a "down" side its that Jason dont work with exotic woods. In our conversations he indicated that he is very alergic to most of these exotics. So in summation if you want a super fancy, exotic, expensive bow that you can brag to your bro's about.... i guess this aint it. On the other hand, if a dead serious, quiet, fast, extremely well crafted bow with the singular purpose of killing game is on your list, then you should definitely buy a Kanati.
Topic: Black & Tan Kanati/photos & impressions (Read 764 times)
