My bows...wait times, lists, and expectations

         It's come to my attention, again, that there are folks in the archery world, specifically the Hill longbow crowd, that are disgruntled at my lack of mass longbow production.

      I've never hidden the fact that I have been a small business owner for the last eighteen years (owning a glass company)  which takes priority over making archery products.  I build longbows, backquivers, and re-work existing used longbows as time permits.  I work 50- 60 hours weekly at the glass shop...then go home and work in the home shop, building archery products around keeping up with family and a small acreage. Archery is a labor of  love, not a means to make a living.

     As my bows grew in popularity, floods of bowmaking requests came in, much more demand than I ever could fulfil in a timely manner.  After putting potential customers on a "list" and taking years to work though that list to completion, I vowed not to get that far back up ever again.  Human nature being what it is, and people's tendency to not take "no" for what it means, the only way to satisfy people was to put them on another waiting list.  I'm getting close to working through that one, and there's still twenty or thirty patiently waiting folks who want to be alerted when I open up another list.  

     Here's the rub.  As a small business owner, dealing with the day to day pressures of a quality product supply chain and labor force (post-covid), in order to properly maintain our customer base and provide quality service to my community, I've had to work way more hours to get the same amount of work accomplished. I spend half my working hours doing other people's jobs I never had to do before, without any compensation.  Anyone in my shoes understands the amount of extra work tracking down wrong item factory-made shipments, poorly-made product quality issues, lack of customer service in obtaining products, etc and the toll it takes to keep our workload moving in a timely manner. No complaints from my side, it's just a matter of business in the glass world we live in nowdays.  But it's left me with fewer hours in the home shop doing the things I'd really love to do...build Hill style longbows.    I can build a backquiver with far less time involved, so I've tried to keep up with those orders in a better fashion.

      That all said...guys who've waited for years for a bow...I've never shunned telling them that I don't know when I'll take their "order" or when I'll get to their bow.  Somehow, some will tell the public that they've had a bow "on order" for years, when actually, no downpayment has been made, relatively few emails have been exchanged and no phone calls to discuss details.  I fail to see how this is a "bow order".  Back pre-covid, I was getting caught up on my list, almost ready to start another, then our world changed and I had to keep my glass business going as a top priority for my family and my employees.  Bow production basically stopped for quite awhile.  I know, the archery community for the most part may understand that, but with the amount of flak I hear, maybe the majority doesn't.  

       So the last few years, I've tried to be more specific to wait times, to try and dissuade all but the most patient customer.  The ones who are just wanting to try a longbow, have heard about mine, but aren't a dedicated Longbow shooter, are not going to get first opportunity when the list reopens.  They don't even know for sure what they want, but they want one right away.  There's other bowmakers out there that can service their needs much better and I try to pass them along to those bowmakers, no hard feelings from my side.  It is what it is.

      But when I get word that people are talking disrespectfully about me, my bows, my wait times or processes, because I cannot control the day to day foot traffic or job issues at my glass company and the ensuing workload which caused me to not keep up with my bowmaking,  I feel disheartened with the Longbow archery community.  I thought we were better as a collective whole than that.  Maybe not.  Maybe there's a few that pass the sour grapes along to whomever will listen...maybe those people are just sour because they can't get a bow at their whim, I don't know. But plainly spoken, it's gotten old.

       I have attempted to give back to the archery community, specifically in regards to the Hill style of shooting and equipment information and usage.  What I can do in the bowmaking world will be as much output as I can and people are going to have to learn to play nice and not put me or my longbows in a bad light because it doesn't satisfy their wants. So be it.  The very large majority of my bow customers, who have a bow that I made specifically for them, or if they have a used bow that they found that fits them well, do not part with the bow for any amount of money.  The reputation of Sunset Hill longbows and backquivers can stand on it's own feet against the naysayers.  Those who own one of my bows know in their heart what I am speaking of and for that I'm thankful.

      So, I guess this rant is to explain my situation publicly and to let people know that I've got ears to the listening post, and I hear the disgruntled words.  I apologize to those folks that I can't meet your expectations.  In the meanwhile, I'll keep whittling away at my "lists" and doing my best to get the best longbow I can make into as many hands as I can. If you get one, you'll understand why they are in such demand, Enough said.

       Shoot Straight.