Bob, I endeavour to get $20.00 per hour plus material costs. Sometimes it is a bit like swings and round a bouts. Although this is a reasonably low hourly rate it may take a couple of weeks to finish the bow as I do it when time permits.
When running my bow workshops some of my clients were earning up to $200.00 per hour.
bigbob wrote:Considering people can buy eBay 'specials' for next to nothing particularly recurves.I shot one last weekend that a friend had just bought which cost less than $200 to his door.
An acquaintance of mine recently imported an Asiatic static tip bow from China via e-bay. The bow landed in Australia for $157.00. My acquaintance could speak Mandarin so he phoned the bowyer to obtain more details of the bow. During the conversation it was revealed that in the bowyers area of China $100.00 was over a weeks wage.
bigbob wrote: I post photos on here because in the main I am proud of creating them and if any one ever likes what they see and contacts me , all to the good. This has only happened several times, but never resulted in any deal. I detest aggressive marketing, believing if some one likes what they see then the ball is with them.
Similarly I do not advertise my bows but do post new creations on this site hoping that it will encourage others to have a go.
I make bows when the mood suits and put them into stock, when one sells I replace it, if I don’t have what the customer wants I send them elsewhere.
Over the years profits from selling bows and running workshops has funded my archery requirements and trips away as well as equipping my workshop.
Daryl.