How Does a Bowyer Feel?

[MnFn]

I appreciate hearing from bowyers as well.  I think I can honestly say I have really tried to like some bows that I bought but in the end they were not for me.

In a few cases I just wanted to try something different- it's fun to try a different design.
  I think it would bother me ( if I was a builder) so I try to be discreet  about commenting, as without exception every bow I have bought was well built and finished. Just not for me.

[Kevin Dill]

I honestly suspect that a majority of bowyers seldom see the classifieds anywhere and have little idea of their bows (specific ones) being sold to another buyer.

[McDave]

Any business that wants to survive, not just bowyers, would benefit from having a better understanding of what motivates its customers to do things.  Sometimes that understanding might be painful, and sometimes it could be difficult to discover, as the customers either might not know why they made a particular decision or may be reluctant to discuss their reasons.  But still, if I were a bowyer and found out that my customers sold the bows I made more often than they sold other bowyers' bows, it would be a useful thing to know in making future plans.  Big corporations spend millions trying to find out this kind of information.  Most small businesses don't have a clue as to what their customers are thinking or how they stack up against their competition, which is one of the reasons why 9/10 small businesses fail within a few years.

[mangonboat]

Last fall the 2009-10 St. Judes "Faith" bow, a Dryad Orion that Mike, Jason  and John had put their best work into and a bow that had serious hunting mojo,  showed up on the big auction site , offered by a pawn shop. I was so shocked I assumed the bow had been stolen , so I  contacted Terry to identify the auction winner, who was in the same town as the pawn shop and a bowyer, himself,  and I tried without success to reach him. So I contacted Mike and he had heard nothing about that bow since the auction.
I didn't feel right about it so I didnt bid and the bow came and went 3 times on the auction site before somebody finally bid on it. That's the worst fate, in my mind, for a custom bow...sitting in a pawn shop somewhere. Mike , Jason and John have continued to improve their products  and create a market for their new bows and limbs.

[hawk22]

I would feel like I betrayed a friend if I sold my 2 great northerns.  I think this is why I will end up with a wall full of bows.  Used bows on the other hand, I've bought and sold without any second thought.

[Bowwild]

Thanks for the input!

I've never bought a bow because I thought it would make me better. I'm usually drawn to the appearance of the bow, workmanship, and the bowyer's reputation.  I do own two (of only 13) that are metal risers and will accept highly tunable springy/plunger rests. However, I miss the beauty of wood when I shoot these bows.

I have moved one bow of about 30 or so these past 5-6 years because it was a "dud".  I'm sure mine was a flier because the bowyer has a very good and decades-long reputation.

I have also moved a few because of the appearance.

I don't consider myself a collector and almost all my bows are by a different bowyer. However, some of them have never been hunted and probably won't be, simply because I like the look and feel of some others.  These are the ones that I sometimes wonder why I keep them.

Oddlly, I long to settle on a particular bow model and just get rid of all the others and have only 2-3 from the same bowyer.  Getting rid of them because I feel wasteful in owning bows that I just get a kick out of handling from time to time.  But, when I make the list of which ones to sell I'm sort of like Steven Martin in the "Jerk", when he was moving out of his home to go on his own... I need this one, and this one, oh, and that one....It's hard to let go of some.

[BWallace10327]

I like to think all of my bows have a niche.  I have a shorter recurve for blinds, a longer lighter poundage for target rounds and something 3pc that is heavy enough to hunt up to an elk or black bear. If I get carried away with the number of bows I have I feel selfish and try to sell them to someone who would use them as more than unneeded eye candy on the wall.  I am not a bowyer, but I would try see building a bow more as a business transaction.  If everyone just bought one bow and stayed with it and people weren't constantly having bows built, selling them off and having more built a great deal of boyers would go out of business.

[buckster]

Bows are like hot women.  No matter how hot they look... some one is tired of shooting them.  

[imbowhunt10]

I agree that a lot of us bowhunters are a fickle bunch, when it comes to shooting, hunting, buying and selling. But that is what makes the love for traditional collecting and hunting so much fun. And don't forget a lot of times ones circumstances determines the selling of what you have. I have sold a few bows that I said I would never part with, because of age changing my capabilities. I feel like 9 times out of 10 the selling of a first class bowyers bow, has nothing to do with the not liking his bow.

[Terry Green]

It does a bowyer no good for you to 'hold onto' a bow just so you wont hurt his feelings....least that's my take if I were a bowyer.

I'd want you to sell it to seomeon who likes my bows, or someone that would fall in love with my bows....so they would get used and talked about.

for what ever that's worth.

[Steven E Milbocker]

I have bought and sold many bows.I never sold a single one because it was a bad shooter.Most of the times its because my tastes have changed or the grass is greener type of thing or just can't physically handle the weight.Also I came to the conclusion as a few have said that it just wasn't prudent for me to keep a bunch of bows to decorate the walls with.On the other hand I've bought bows used that maybe were not what I wanted as far as wood etc to see how they shot then sold them and ordered a new one with the wood I desired.I've done that a few times as I'm sure others have and I'm sure that bowyer would think that is a good thing!

[ChristopherO]

I was at a 3D shoot a few years back with a couple of gentlemen from the other side of the state.  They were shooting bows made by a well known bowyer (no longer in business) that looked just fantastic.  I tried them out, though, and decided I just didn't care for the feel and cast of the bow.  If I were to have purchased one simply by word of mouth it probably would have been sold by me to another interested party.  Not a slight to the bowyer but a personal preference.

[Bladepeek]

I thought Chad Holms remarks indicated a really healthy attitude. I've sold a few of Chad's bows; at least one of them back to Chad himself as a down payment on a new one.

I'll order one from him again when I get my "bow funds" back up where I want them. This next one will be the dual shelf I keep talking about.

I'm not searching for "THE ONE". I've owned and sold quite a few bows that were as good as it gets. I just want to try as many as I can from different makers and as many models as possible from each maker.

It isn't chance that keeps me coming back to Chad and I'm glad he understands that some of us are "bowaholics" and can't help it   :(

[Sixby]

One thing I have noticed is that some folks have bought used custom bows and were not happy with the way the bow felt to them.
In the case of my bows and some other bowyers this simply could be that case that over 90 percent of the bows I build are custom fit to the customers hand and shooting style and not generic grips. What fits one person perfectly may not work for you at all. I have had customers that love grips and give dimensions of grips that have hands twice as large as normal and If you bought one of those bows you would hate it. However that is not a reason to not have that bowyer not build you a bow. Ask any bowyer that you like the bows he builds if they shape and fit to the customers hand and shooting style or if the have just one or two certain styles of grip that they build.

God bless, Steve

[Andy Cooper]

I bought a second-hand static-tipped recurve from Sixby that he made for someone else. I really liked the bow, but the grip didn't fit me well. I sent it back to him and he reshaped the grip to fit me...now it is one of my favorites. I realize this is a bit tangential to the topic, but I posted it anyway because things can often be tweaked rather than sold.

[threeunder]

I've bought only 1  new truly custom bow from discussing the project with the bowyer to seeing the  product of his talents.  Sixby made that bow for me and it is not one I will be letting go of.
It is as perfect a representation of his talents and my preferences in a hunting bow as could be madee

With that said, I own many, many other bows.  Buy, sell, and trade a lot just to experience different bows from different bowyers.  Have little to no true attachment to the vast majority of those and will sell/trade most of them at some point.

I understand the exposure to other archers a bowyer gets when one of their bows is sold second-hand.  I believe that exposure leads to many orders for new bows.

[tzolk]

I've owned custom made bows and let them go while using the funds to purchase a different type of bow from the same bowyer. Just trying different lengths or designs and poundages out.

[Alexander Traditional]

It's something I think about,but I'm not going to keep a bow I don't like. I would try to be as discreet as I could about it. I think custom bowyers take a lot of pride in what they do,and it's bound to have an affect on some of them.

[Bowwild]

Here's a silly story that happened last week. I had commented that I wish I had a bow with Macassar Ebony in it.  A bowyer commented that "Roy, you do unless you've already sold it!"  The bowyer was the one who made it for me about 10 months ago!

Yikes, he was right I did have one and nope, I hadn't sold it.

I'm glad forgetting bow woods is #11 on the "10 signs you might have alzheimer's"!

[Friend]

In our poverty, a seasoned bowyer is able to discern our weakness and accepts the reality of ambiguity.