Thanks, guys!
Hamish, I hear you. I don't think that what you're saying is untrue, and the thought crossed my mind in the beginning that I could buy a great quiver and still have some change left over if I sold a bow like that. These are some other factors that I considered as well though... First off, that particular stave was not a $250 yew stave. It was short, a bit deflexed and a bit knotty. The sturgeon skins were some scrap pieces from some skins that I skinned a whole other bow with. Those details aside, the truth is that I wanted an awesome, one of a kind quiver but I could never have justified to my wife that I was going to drop $400-500 on a quiver. Even if I sold a bow, that money would have been needed elsewhere. I know that it's a bit of an academic difference, but it's a real difference in my circumstances. As you stated, some of those differences in price from one product to another can be very arbitrary and subjective. I think that the time, effort and care that Lee put into the quiver was pretty comparable to what I put into the bow. He was willing to put up with all my little nit-picky requests about the design and pattern and make it just like I wanted (better than I wanted). My plan for the bow started off more simple and lower budget, but as I went along and saw the work that he was doing I found myself more drawn to sprucing it up and adding more to it. I get joy out of making things beautiful, especially if I know the other person will appreciate it. Plus, he's a stand-up guy that does work that I admire and he seemed to have an enthusiastic interest in my bows. All that together made it feel like a fair trade. That's the nice thing about trading. It can be about more than the money. I get sick of quantifying and monetizing everything in my life so it's nice to to step outside of that a little and say, wow, you make awesome quivers. I want one but I can't do that myself. I make bows, and you want one. Let's do it!
