I recently bought a 60" hickory U Finish bow from bowstick.com. It took 7 days for my order to ship, and I could not get ahold of anyone at the company. Their 800 number doesn't work, and he apparently doesn't like responding to emails. Upon FINALLY recieving my bow (ordered 12/31 and recieved 1/9, and their website says orders ship within 2-3 days), I opened it to find a piece of junk. On the back of the bow, on one limb, I can count a dozen growth rings, and on the other limb I can count five. Any novice bowyer will tell you that cutting through even one growth ring is a big no-no. This particular bow is advertised as coming with an extra long string for tillering, and the string that comes with it, I can't even get it on the stupid thing. It's a good 4 inches short even if the bow was already tillered and I wanted to use it as a shooting string. Nevermind the fact that it is supposed to be an extra long string for tillering! The shaping of the bow is laughable. On one limb, it looks like it has been gouged with a router. I'm not sure if I can take that out. I will probably have to back the bow and do some other serious remedial work to get it remotely functional, but this will never be a good bow. I will never use it for hunting, which is what I purchased it for in the first place.

On bowstick.com, if you go to the "Shipping & Returns" page, you find nothing. NOTHING. So, I'm assuming that this guys likes to take your money, send you a piece of junk and offer no options for returns. I have emailed him (sure can't call him), but I don't expect to hear a response. And I surely don't expect to get a refund if I returned it.

If you are thinking about making a purchase from bowstick.com, I would strongly advise against it. This guy has no business being in business.

Thats stinks.

But with hickory, its not imperitive to keep it to one ring. Espeically if quarter or rift sawn. But if I was you, I would be a little ticked. I wonder if it was a board bow? I have not heard great things about them either.

One thing you could do is back it, espeically with another small strip of hickory (quarter sawn and straight grain) or even ash. Or bamboo but you need it flat. Or easiest backing would be rawhide or even mesh fiberglass.

There is a guy on primitive archer who sells hickory or bamboo slats ready to glue up and goes by the name of David Knight (knightd)

http://www.primalneedarchery.com/

Very good guy. I would not buy anything from Rudder. Might get something worse.

I hope Rudderbows does a better job I have a bamboo backed hickory bow on order. they said 10 to 12 weeks. It is supposed to be a fully tillered bow that just needs to be sanded and finished. I bought it for my son to give him some pride in his work.

Rudderbow are the best U finish you can buy, I purchased several throught the years ,no one ever bad.

good to know lol

Hope so. A bunch of people showed on primitive archer showed "barrel tapered bamboo slats" they sent that was horrible.

But it happens. To make matters worse, the owner sent horrible emails back to the customer telling him because he was in idiot, he probably didn't have the imagination to build a bow anyway. I was shocked. Jim didn't deny it.

Just read thru this thread and see some of the work he put out. Then read thru the thread and see the work that Dave Knight put out.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/i...c,13217.0.html

Then other customers came on with simular tales. I trust Justin Snyder and Eric Krewson on PA.

I should not gossip. I have only bought raw materials like silk/linen for bow building. But after that incident, I took my buying somewhere else. never had trouble with the stuff I bought.

To be fair I say he is partially right bamboo will never be even thickness, and a bamboo bow should not be attempted by an amateur, IMO.
I have made hundreds of bamboo bows, the only bamboo that is pretty even including the nods is black bamboo, But I don't buy Bamboo , I make my own from my own yard , where I have at least 7 varieties, but in general teh Rudder bow staves are very good,IMO.

FWIW, I know Eric Krewson personally. He is a very gifted selfbowyer (his bows will shoot with a lot of glass bows) and I don't think you'll meet anyone more honest. He's generous to a fault. I'd trust what he has to say, because he's honest and knows what he's talking about.

Anybody that has ever made a bamboo backed bow knows it can be thinned. If you sell someone a product that says ready to glue up, it should be even thickness.

I get it done with a joiner and a sander. Kent (burnie on here) gets it done nicely. You won't find anyone more experienced than Rich Scaffold and Dave knight or Eric Krewson. If I can do it, so can Jim (rudder).

Between every node of the bamboo slats I have I get exact same thickness. I have even knife edged bamboo close to a barrel taper . I am a newbie with only 5 bows under and I get it done better than that stuff he selling.

That I agree with.