did this happen to you

[Del the cat]

Each to his own...
I sell a few, but only ones I want to make for people who know what they are talking about, and will make the effort to come and see the bow.
They go at very reasonable price just to cover the price of my hobby, materials, club membership, tool etc.
I've had a few contacts through my website, I made a little primitive Yew for one guy (one of my best bows, he got a real bargain, and I made something a bit different), he now wants a Meare heath style bow and eventually a Yew longbow. I'm making a little bow for his kid as a freebie .
I try to keep it fun, and I want it to be a fair deal for both parties.
It means my hobby is self sustaining and I can buy a few nice tools without feeling guilty.

Last week I did a 6hour session with a guy (violin maker) who was interested in having a go, he gave me 4 bottles of red wine. He'd contacted me asking if I did courses or could recomend one. I said no I didn't, but if he was down my way I'd show him the ropes.
We were both happy with the deal

I think amateur bowyers who sell their work provide a great way to get a good custom bow at a very good price if the buyer is willing to make the effort.
Of course there is some real rubbish out there on E-Bay. Caveat emptor I s'pose.
Del

[Pappy]

Ya all the time,everyone seem to want a snake or character bow,they just don't understand.
I had much rather help them make one and do a lot of that. 
   Pappy

[youngbowyer33]

John and Josh, i completely agree with you

[Marc St Louis]

You have to be careful what you sell.  Selling bows that are not reliable can give wood bows a bad rap. 

I lent one of my recurves to a guy a month ago and he went shooting with a guy that used a glass recurve.  The guy had nothing but bad things to say about wood bows until he tried my bow.  Apparently he shot mine better than he could shoot his own glass bow.  Of course I was not too pleased to find out the guy had a 30" draw, my bow was tillered to 28".

[Eric Krewson]

I went through a self imposed apprenticeship of making 40 bows before I sold one. After seeing some of the junk some guys with stars in their eyes were selling I made sure I was a fairly competent bow maker prior to my first sale.

The first bow I sold was to Julia Norris, a BBO that she is still shooting and winning with today.

The bows I have sold paid for my shop equipment, hunting club dues, out of state hunting licenses and a few toys but for every bow I sold I gave away at least two.

I have gone full circle and now only make bows for friends and to donate to be auctioned for worthy causes. I am delivering a bow for a Catch A Dream fund raiser today.

Nothing wrong with selling bows but it warms your heart to give one away to someone who with treasure it.

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

I will raise my hand in guilt. my hobby turned right into an income. I always said i would never be in the bow business, but when i needed money to move out west i sold a bunch of stuff and when i needed money between odd jobs i sold a bunch of stuff, and now that we live in an area where there are no jobs over min. wage, building a low income log cabin and have a baby on the way....now im in business. out of necessity, not overall choice
     Truth- yeah it really does ruin a hobby, BUT I still love bow making and overall still love my job. but its just like any job, its not always fun, but it has its rewards.  The only real problem i have is that i rarely get to make a bow for myself anymore. i used to have a new personal bow to shoot and love every month or so.....now i have been hunting with the same 2 bows for 3 years...lol
     If i had another source of income, like my stone waterfall building job back in FL, there is no way i would make a business out of bow making...not saying i would never sell any, but i would try to enjoy making each bow more, But i sure do get to shoot a lot of bows....lol 
       

[Parnell]

Don't enjoy price tagging the work, but if the right opportunity presents itself, then hey?!
Made my ma one at her request, then one of her lady friends puts an order in through mom because she wants a bow to hang on the wall along with her aboriginal mask collection.  I made one before at the request of my bro-in-law for his boss.  Turned out great, made it draw to 30" for safety and he was very pleased. 
Given away about 10, and I definitely feel better giving them as gifts. 
If the right opportunity presents itself, maybe for me, but otherwise, I enjoy the hobby to much to compromise it at this point.

[straightarrow]

I used to make custom cedar arrows and sell them on ebay and from there receive custom orders. It all started as a hobby for myself then I started making them for friends and things began to snowball from there. It was nice money but started to be a big pain in the butt. What was a hobby at the beginning turned into a second job. I actually started to hate making arrows. Now I do it for myself and family...and thats it.  Now that i have been making bows...I have been approached by people for me to make them one....I offer to show them how and thats about it....I'm not going to ruin this hobby that i love so much.

Jon

[brian melton]

    Only have one fear, and I have sold quite a few in the past, LIABILITY!! Marcs response is a prime example of why bows can break!! I have watched compound guys draw wood bows like they were trying to prove their manhood, grab, jerk, scary to watch!! I believe unless you know the person has a good knowledge of primitive equipment it would be in your best interest to go through a sort of how to IN PERSON before a sell, or carry some good insurance. I switched to selling supplies which I have not done in a few yrs , but am ramping up to start again soon.....

Brian

[adb]

I do sell some of my bows. Maybe 20-30 a year. To people I want to sell them to... to people I believe are capable of appreciating and caring for what I've created. I've turned down lots of requests from people who don't understand what I'm doing. There is also an extensive and very clear understanding of the limitations of my products before any money changes hands. Also, I give away probably as many, especially to kids, and get much more enjoyment from that. Lastly, no, it has not become a job. The more bows I make, the better bowyer I become. When I'm making bows to sell, I tend to be much more careful about the details.

[Del the cat]

..To people I want to sell them to... to people I believe are able of appreciating and caring for what I've created...

Exactly, that gets rid of the liability issue. I've only sold half a dozen or so, but I make sure I tell people, get your arrows made to the right draw length and if you let anyone shoot your bow make sure they use your arrows.
If they have a problem I'll fix the bow, or give them their money back. I don't take a deposit or anything, I make a bow to the the spec' someone wants, but I make it how I want to, if they don't like it they don't have to buy it (never happened yet!)
Del

[Marc St Louis]

No matter what you do and how well you drill the information into a newbies head it still takes awhile for it to sink in.  I hand out a paper on "how to take care of your bow" with a list of what to do and what not to do with wood bows on top of telling them initially.  Doesn't matter, perhaps many of them are illiterate or just don't take the time to read it.  Sometimes it's a nightmare 

[Josh]

That is my main concern with making someone else a bow.  One of the doctors I work for is an avid bowhunter but he uses a compound bow.  He is letting me hunt his land this year and I am making him a bow in return because he wants to try and get one "the hard way".  I just hope I can get it through his head the rules of keeping/maintaining/stringing/drawing/storing a wooden bow.  For the past year I have been kind of reminding him the difference between the bows I make and the fiberglass bows he started shooting in the 70's.  I try and teach how the bows I make are a little more tempermental and delicate and need special care and attention to retain their reliability/power/durability.  I am scared that he is going to end up either leaving it strung for days on end or holding it at full draw for 30 minutes or something. What if he hands it to a friend of his and his friend tries to draw it back to somewhere behind his head?  I really want a print out of instructions on caring for a wooden bow but I am really bad with wording stuff and every time I try to come up with some sort of manual I always tend to leave out important information.  When I present it to him this weekend I guess I will just try and go over everything I know the same day. Especially the proper way to brace/unbrace it and about not drawing it past 28".  I tillered it to 29 inches though...just to be safe. 

[Del the cat]

.... When I present it to him this weekend I guess I will just try and go over everything I know the same day. Especially the proper way to brace/unbrace it and about not drawing it past 28".  I tillered it to 29 inches though...just to be safe. 

Take a little saw with you you and cut all his arrows down to 28" .
Del

[osage outlaw]

I sold my first bow a couple of weeks ago.  I sold it to a guy that built a bow of his own, but hung it over his fireplace.  When he decided to string it up and shoot it, it snapped.  He wanted a bow to shoot, but didn't have the time to make one  It was a snake skin backed osage D-bow.  It was one that I wasn't going to use anymore, so I sold it for $65 to fund some new tools.  I think that is the only way I will sell a bow, to buy new bow stuff, or go to bow gatherings.  That way it is still a hobby, not an income.  I need to start making some money so I can make it to Tenn. next spring.