Yew Bow..

[Chad Bower]

Ive advertised this before but still feel it worth asking.Im looking for a yew self bow..anyone have any leads ?

[Pat B]

Have you tried Ted Fry at Raptor Archery?

[Chad Bower]

Checked there ...is $800.00 a fare price ?

[bigcountry]

Well, think about it.  A decent piece of yew for making a warbow will cost you $200.  Thats the stave alone. 

A decent piece of yew to make an ELB or flatbow would run you 100 easy. 

I think 800 is a little steep.  $400 would be fair.  Maybe.

[Del the cat]

Dang, If only you were in the UK I could custom build you a nice ELB at a very good price.
I only do one or two a year, but I've got some real nice staves which will be seasoned  next year.
Del

[HoBow]

Bigcountry- I figure it takes me 30-40 hours or so to make a bow. This includes cutting and splitting wood, sealing, making, and finish work (for me the slowest part). Professionals, and most others I guess, are much quicker. I've never sold a bow, though I have traded a few. I'm not sure how someone could make a bow at my pace and make a living. $400 for a bow, with the wood costing $100 in your example sounds very cheap to me. My wife would be thrilled if I sold my bows for half that just to get rid of them, and I've seen people with MANY more

[Parnell]

Hmmm, that is part of the question isn't it?  What's labor worth?
I don't know, $800 for a professionally made bow seems to be about where most are at.  No true guarantees with a wood bow either.

Is there a reason why it must be a Yew bow?

[Dane]

Is a $400 dollar yew bow a fair price , or an insult?

The stave costs (or is valued) at $200 dollars, say. The bowyer takes 30 hours to build, test, and finish the bow. That comes out to a bit over $6 an hour you are paying him for his craft and the years it took to learn it, the tools and overhead, etc. Might as well just flip burgers – it pays better. At $800 dollars for a yew bow, the guy is only making $20 bucks an hour.

Dane

[HatchA]

Is a $400 dollar yew bow a fair price , or an insult?

The stave costs (or is valued) at $200 dollars, say. The bowyer takes 30 hours to build, test, and finish the bow. That comes out to a bit over $6 an hour you are paying him for his craft and the years it took to learn it, the tools and overhead, etc. Might as well just flip burgers – it pays better. At $800 dollars for a yew bow, the guy is only making $20 bucks an hour.

Dane

Puts it all into perspective, doesn't it?

It's a very difficult thing to do, putting a price on blood, sweat and anguish...

[bigcountry]

Is a $400 dollar yew bow a fair price , or an insult?

The stave costs (or is valued) at $200 dollars, say. The bowyer takes 30 hours to build, test, and finish the bow. That comes out to a bit over $6 an hour you are paying him for his craft and the years it took to learn it, the tools and overhead, etc. Might as well just flip burgers – it pays better. At $800 dollars for a yew bow, the guy is only making $20 bucks an hour.

Dane

For a professional bowyer, I think 30 hours may be too excessive.  Me, yes.  But if I did it every day, I would say its more on the lines of 20 hours.  I do know someone in WA who makes ELB's but hesitate to give out his name as he told me he is too busy to take new business.  He does it for a hobby.  He says he counts on 20-24 hours for an ELB.  He harvests his own yew however.  He charges around 400 for one.

I mean guys, folks who do  this for a living I can't imagine do it to get rich.  If they want to make a lot of money, join the office rat race like the rest of us, and be content being miserable working, hating commuting and going into work every day, and only working to do the things you love.  Instead of working doing what you love. 

Its kinda funny, my boss is currently retiring.  On the side he has a full saw mill, a few log trucks, and cranes, and a full shop.  For a hobby for over 2 decades he makes furniture.  Now, in electronics as a director, he pulls down easy 140K a year.  He was telling me what he will be bringing in doing high end furnature and I explained I felt so bad for him.  He looked at me and told me, "never feel sorry for someone doing what they love".

[paganwannbe]

$800 hundred sound cheap I have seen 3 bow selling for $1200 and they are not yew but they do have snake skin on them so that might explain that.

[mullet]

 Chad, I'm working on two right now. If I ever get time to finish them I'll give you a shout. And I have a friend that builds Flintlock rifles and yew ELB take-downs, he has no trouble getting $1500 for the bows.

[bigcountry]

Chad, I'm working on two right now. If I ever get time to finish them I'll give you a shout. And I have a friend that builds Flintlock rifles and yew ELB take-downs, he has no trouble getting $1500 for the bows.

Goodness, where do people get all this money?  With kids and wife, no way I could look my wife in the eye and tell her I gave 1500 for a yew bow. 

[Dane]

Is a $400 dollar yew bow a fair price , or an insult?

The stave costs (or is valued) at $200 dollars, say. The bowyer takes 30 hours to build, test, and finish the bow. That comes out to a bit over $6 an hour you are paying him for his craft and the years it took to learn it, the tools and overhead, etc. Might as well just flip burgers – it pays better. At $800 dollars for a yew bow, the guy is only making $20 bucks an hour.

Dane

For a professional bowyer, I think 30 hours may be too excessive.  Me, yes.  But if I did it every day, I would say its more on the lines of 20 hours.  I do know someone in WA who makes ELB's but hesitate to give out his name as he told me he is too busy to take new business.  He does it for a hobby.  He says he counts on 20-24 hours for an ELB.  He harvests his own yew however.  He charges around 400 for one.

I mean guys, folks who do  this for a living I can't imagine do it to get rich.  If they want to make a lot of money, join the office rat race like the rest of us, and be content being miserable working, hating commuting and going into work every day, and only working to do the things you love.  Instead of working doing what you love. 

Its kinda funny, my boss is currently retiring.  On the side he has a full saw mill, a few log trucks, and cranes, and a full shop.  For a hobby for over 2 decades he makes furniture.  Now, in electronics as a director, he pulls down easy 140K a year.  He was telling me what he will be bringing in doing high end furnature and I explained I felt so bad for him.  He looked at me and told me, "never feel sorry for someone doing what they love".

Big, even though you do it for the love of it shouldn't mean making pennies for your work. Money is not the only goal in life for most of us here, but still, Johnson said only a fool writes for free, and he was right.

I dated an actress once. She was killing herself and still starviing trying to land stage roles. She went to a party, and was talking to a physican who made a huge amount of money. When he found out what she did, he said he envied her life, and wished he could trade.

Dane

[mullet]

 Big, I had a coworker ask me about building a bow for his 12 year old son. The first thing out of his mouth was how much it would cost and he didn't want to spend a lot. I told him I'd think on it and get back to him, (That's a common ploy used by engineers and lawyers when they don't know what to say)

  I was sooo happy today when he asked me again and thought I could build his son a Compound. I directed him to the Bass shopping center up the road that has a Pro shop. He could get a compound youth bow for him there, cheaper then I could build him a bow. It's for school and that's what they have to shoot. I'll win him over for free if he get's into shooting.

 Also, people that can afford custom built Flintlocks can afford $1500 bows. That's about the same price as a tricked out Martin Compound, I think.