what's it worth?

[DC]

Just paint the spare room, it's a quicker road to peace

[JoJoDapyro]

Just paint the spare room, it's a quicker road to peace

My way of life is just do what she says. it is simpler than fighting about not doing it, and generally faster.

[Onebowonder]

Never sold or bought a bow, ...but a little internet research should answer your questions fairly easily.  Find someone that is doing basically what you want/hope to do one day and check out what they are charging.

OneBow

[wizardgoat]

I've never tried to sell a bow, but people ask me from time to time and I've sold about 9 or 10 bows.
I ask for 300-500, and I always include a matched set of arrows.
Like pearly I've handled some well known bowyers bows priced around 1000 and they were nothing special. Nice finish, but I could just feel the taper was off
If your getting into bow building with the idea that you'll eventually make money, well, your in for a rude awakening!

[PEARL DRUMS]

If that's Canadian money, your alright goat. If not, you should get no less than $500 USD for any of your bows, without arrows.

[wizardgoat]

Well 500 CAD is 380$ USD.  I've only been makin bows for not even 2 years, so I still consider myself a noob. Like Blackhawk stated, none of my bows are over 2 years old so haven't gone through the test of time. Most people shooting my bows are friends, and I have a decent day job some no pressure to try a recoup costs in bow building. It's an obsessive hobby, and more than anything it's therapy for me. My wife fully understands, never busts my balls for spending most my spare time in the shop, and some of you have seen, makes awesome bows herself. I sometimes consider making some polished yew longbows or warbows to sell, 1000$ for a bow? Sure why not

[willie]

Enjoy the process and you are making more than money.

A bit of good advice I wish I had heard before I ruined a few good hobbies, by trying to turn them into  money makers. Enjoy what you do, give a way a few, put a few out on consignment. You will know when it is time to quit your day job.

[stuckinthemud]

I always enjoy what I do, if it's not fun it's not worth doing and certainly won't be done well. The question was posed not to turn bow-building into a day-job but once I build all I need I cannot mentally bring myself to build anymore -what would I do with them? There is a limit to how many I can gift, or trade, so then what? I certainly don't want to turn bow-making into a job; experience suggests that once something fun becomes work then its not so much fun anymore but making a few fun-notes out of the hobby beats hanging 125 bows on a shelf...............

[willie]

but this topic is the elephant in my house - I get to learn a new skill while avoiding The List on the understanding that one day there might be a return on the investment of the time spent

sorry if there was too much presumption in my response. careers/money can be big elephants for many houseolds.

Charity contributions for raffles and benefits may let you write off a few.

consider diversifying your hobby somehow.....new directions......specializing....

We have never met so these suggestions are, of course, presumptuous.

[Drewster]

Good advice above.  If you want to know what your bows are worth, keep track of the hours and materials cost for your first fifty bows.  Decide what your time is worth and add it all up.......plus your overhead.  You may be shocked.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I always enjoy what I do, if it's not fun it's not worth doing and certainly won't be done well. The question was posed not to turn bow-building into a day-job but once I build all I need I cannot mentally bring myself to build anymore -what would I do with them? There is a limit to how many I can gift, or trade, so then what? I certainly don't want to turn bow-making into a job; experience suggests that once something fun becomes work then its not so much fun anymore but making a few fun-notes out of the hobby beats hanging 125 bows on a shelf...............

Now your talking my language. I can tell you for certain you will know when and for how much. Step one: Give away a few dozen, swap a dozen, donate a dozen, keep a few dozen and see how you feel. If this same question still lingers in your mind? Repeat step one.

[Stringman]

^^ it's remarkable how closely my journey over the last dozen years resembles this recipe.

[Hamish]

If you want to know how much to charge for a bow work out how much the materials are, labour, tools machinery, general insurance(fire, theft etc), rental/ workshop space, electricity, council rates for running a business, advertising, miscellaneous overheads, paperwork, taxes.
   
Sure there are guys selling bows but I don't think there are many people relying on it for a full time income as they would go out of business in a heartbeat. Their business model just doesn't add up, wouldn't even allow them to break even, let alone make a profit. Most guys are using their regular job(or are retired) to subsidise their bowmaking. This results in people being accustomed to unfeasibly low priced bows, with great finishes, great performance and top materials. Totally unsustainable.
 Mix this in with a lot of very low level bowyers flogging bows on ebay for little more than the price of materials(the occasional one is actually a very talented bowyer, but still insists on undercharging just to get a bit of cash in the hand right now), the general person gets the idea that a bow should be cheap, and is not worth much money.

The $400-600 for a well made osage bow has been the same for the last 19 years that I have been involved in the craft.  Back then a full length osage stave(seasoned but with bark on) retailed for $ 65-$120, then add shipping. Now 20 odd years on, with ebay you can get an osage bowstave, with a lot of work already done, taken down to one growth ring, for $20-$60.

The very nature of making wood bows, at the top end of the spectrum means that so much skill and time is in the tillering, quality of materials. They are factors that are not suited well to methods of mass production, and high volume turnover in sales with a small margin for profit( how most manufacturers plan).

There is no shortage of talented bowyers. If I wasn't a bowyer myself I would have no hesitation in buying a bow off them(I actually do occasionally, either because of admiration of their individual talent, or just to see how my own work stacks up). I have also observed that many talented bowyers that try to make a go of it professionally stop making bows for sale after a year or two.

[stuckinthemud]

My day job does in fact subsidise my hobby - I do, occasionally, find the chance to make my way with my tools, albeit as artist in residence, or instructor, it is the one big advantage of working to a University calendar - but the situation where skilled artisans sell their work at a huge loss means that the normal formula of time+overheads=costs is a nonsense - a lovespoon, hand carved, takes between 4 and 150 hours to make but competes with factories, automated cnc-carving machines, and retirees meaning its retail price is a joke - I once calculated that my commission rate is a maximum of £1 per hour -  competing would mean tooling up in the same way as the competition, not somewhere I want to go. Because of this, I primarily make lovespoons as gifts or as technical challenges:  so that the value is in the improvement to my skill, not the financial reward.  I am not bitter about this, it is the way of the things, but is also why knowing what the base price of units is always one of the questions I feel the need to ask, its all about establishing the ground-rules. 

[Selfbowman]

I charge according to how they shoot . A dog is a dog I don't care what color you paint it. $500-600 is what I get. Some Bowyers are better and mine are better than others. I don't make money at it though. I would have to charge $1000 to make it profitable. I just hope to make enough to pay for the hobby that it is.   Arvin