Main Discussion Area > Bows
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"
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