building wood bows for a living

[Eric Krewson]

I mis-spoke; I made a really nice flintlock rifle from a kit; the precut rear sight dovetail was the standard distance from the breech. Being an old guy, I needed the rear sight halfway down the barrel so I could focus on it, I didn't see anything but a blur for a rear sight when I tried to shoot this rifle. I could have plugged the original dovetail and cut another one down the barrel but that would have left a visible scar where the original dovetail was, I just couldn't do that to this fine rifle.

A wonderful rifle, all the best parts money could buy but I just couldn't shoot it so I sold it. That is the only one that has ever left my stable, I have a gun safe full of these fine rifles and love every one of them. 

On the ducks; one of my great regrets is that I was so sure I was going to make ducks for a lifetime that I sold all of my very best works as I made them. When I soured on making ducks, I only had a few of my early ducks that were not of the same quality that I would sell later, nothing to leave as a legacy of my art to my grandkids.

[WhistlingBadger]

It's fun to make a little money doing something you enjoy doing anyway.  I wouldn't want to put myself in a situation where I had to. 

I doubt I'll ever be proficient enough at bow-making to sell bows.  But I have a few other hobbies that pay a bit:  I maintain an aquarium for a local business, and that's kind of fun:  I get to play with a huge tank while someone else pays for everything; my work makes lots of people happy, and the extra money is nice.  I occasionally get a paycheck from writing, and sometimes my music almost pays for itself.  I sure wouldn't want to depend on any of these things to make a living, though.

[JW_Halverson]

Chasing the market is gonna be tough. And by market I mean the demographic that pay a price that keeps you afloat.

I sell bows. Not often. Always undervalued and underpaid. But I have a certain reputation with a couple movie prop companies and now and then I get a call. Right now I have a 5 curve upper Great Plains sinew backed bow in the works for one. The agreed price with 20 functional arrows is less than a weeks wages at my job and I bet I will have close to 80 hours into the project when I am done. Chokecherry dogwood arrow shafts still need to be found, cut, straightened, cured, straightened, shaped, straightened, hated with trade points, straightened, and fletcher.

Those shafts will take days to find and a couple hundred miles of driving. Mind you, they are often in prime cottontail hunting territory so chasing shafts does double duty.  The stave was $150 with transport because I do not dare use anything but perfect grain osage with the ways day labor extras on a movie set often do everything they can to break equipment...not even joking, have caught them doing it several times on set.

All told, when you total up the costs of material, mileage and gas on my vehicle, I am dow to a dollar or two an hour. Honestly, I am glad I get few commissions like this because the stress makes it miserable. I am doing this one as a thank you to the buyer for a massive favor he did me years ago. I have a debt to him that cannot really be repaid.

And if you are curious about where you may have seen my work, check out the Yellowstone prequel, 1883. Most of the gear of the Sioux war party was mine. And yes, the fateful arrow that pivoted the story was mine. 

[superdav95]

That’s so cool JW!  love that show.  It must be awesome to see your stuff on the big screen! 

[Badger]

  One of my dreams was to open up kind of a coffee shop where people hung out and built bows. Customers could come by drink coffee and watch the bow makers. I would sell supplies for bows, knapping and arrow making and maybe a few other primitive type products. I had planned to fly different guys in about 1 time a month to hold seminars. I wanted a live web cam going all the time where anyone in the world could tune into the " Bowyers Bar"

[superdav95]

Badger I like that idea!   

[stuckinthemud]

My cousin was a turner.  He ran a successful craft shop and cafe with his wife and family, he was the turner in residence, standing in a corner in the shop turning all day, chatting with customers, running demos and the like. Badger’s idea is a great way to do it.  As they say, to make a successful cafe, all you need is a brew (nice cuppa tea/coffee) a loo and a view

[WhistlingBadger]

Badger, I'd stop into your place for a pot of tea.  Especially if you put a 30 yard shooting range out back, too...

[Badger]

Badger, I'd stop into your place for a pot of tea.  Especially if you put a 30 yard shooting range out back, too...

 That is all in the plan! The Bowyers Bar!

[Muskyman]

Super cool JW. Love a good western with really authentic looking stuff. I did kinda hate when the young lady was shot but, that’s Hollywood 

[Gordon]

I stopped selling bows years ago - there just isn't any money in it when you factor in labor and what most people are willing to pay. Now I just make bows for friends and raffles. I've made grown men and women cry when I surprised them with a bow that I custom made for them - you can't put a price on that.

[superdav95]

I stopped selling bows years ago - there just isn't any money in it when you factor in labor and what most people are willing to pay. Now I just make bows for friends and raffles. I've made grown men and women cry when I surprised them with a bow that I custom made for them - you can't put a price on that.

Well said Gordon

[Gordon]

I have become active in black powder rendezvous and primitive archery has become a popular event. Most people who participate in the archery shoots are not inclined to make their own bows and there are a lot of substandard bows in circulation. Now a days I find that I spend more time reconditioning existing bows than making new ones. It starts when someone tells me (or I observe) that their bow is too stout to handle comfortably. If the bow is salvageable (and not all are because some are junk) I'll offer to reduce the draw weight. I'll then fix the tiller as best I can (tiller is always off with these bows), remove excess wood (most are overbuilt), bring the bow to the desired draw weight, refine the handle and tips, add a handle wrap and arrow pass, personalize the bow, refinish the bow, make a new string, stress test, and make them a proper stringer. And when I hand them back their newly reborn bow, the look on their faces is priceless.

[Gordon]

And if you are curious about where you may have seen my work, check out the Yellowstone prequel, 1883. Most of the gear of the Sioux war party was mine. And yes, the fateful arrow that pivoted the story was mine.

Dang John, you were the one ultimately responsible for Elsa's demise? She was my favorite character!

[Eric Krewson]

I have done a lot of the same Gordon, usually after I made a comment at a tournament about someone's bow and they asked me to fix it. I had to quit fixing bows because some of these bows were such a mess that I would end up bamboo backing them and making a complete bow with their old bow as a core. I could have made two new bows in the time it took me to resurrect some of these substandard bows.

I learned my lesson and have turned down every request to straighten out something on a B/P rifle, there is often a lot more wrong with them under the surface that you can't see by just looking them over.

The strangest thing I found on a B/P rifle was that the builder used finishing nails for barrel pins, which is normal but he left the heads on the nails. When I tried to remove a pin to take the barrel out the head of the nail took a chunk of wood out with it as it came out. I decided to leave the barrel in place and not mess with it.