The product is but a small (albeit essential) component of building a successful business. George this didn't sound like it had Covid or inflation or recession related factors.
Stinks! His videos on tuning a heavy and on paper a too stiff arrow for a lightweight (38) pound bow was great! He got my 37&40 # bows dialed in bare shaft. He said they may continue videos. I hope so.
"George this didn't sound like it had Covid or inflation or recession related factors."......sounded like a personal family decision primarily based on health issues. Making glass bows has had negative effects on lots of talented bowyers over the years unfortunately.
I didn't hear anything that made it sound like Covid or inflation was a major contributor either.
Health issues from what I gathered in video. There is a picture of their equipment for sale on FB. Shop was a garage and while that is probably ok for a one off project it’s not nearly sufficient for a business dealing with the materials they were using on a production basis. Carbon dust, exotic wood dust, floating in the air is a recipe for health issues. Yes, I enjoyed watching his videos and I hope he can make more about shooting the bow. In the meantime I wish him and his family the best.
Exotic wood is a problem too. You need proper ventilation systems for the dust and vapors. Imagine the chemicals in a bow build, wood, glue, glass, carbon, finishes.
Loved their videos, even if I think he use certain words too often haha. I hope his health improves. Based on what he said in the video, I think he was actually getting a lot of business, but not enough to invest in production level equipment and safety measurements. Especially with carbon dust.
That's what I took out of what he said also, it had to do with the materials and not being able to afford the correct equipment for better ventilation and they had health issues from it.
A lifetime of blacksmithing and shoeing horses...all sorts of nasty forge fumes, coal dust and grinding dust along with making knives...more grinding dust. ' I'm still doing similar work with lots of welding fumes and fine dust. I try to wear a mask and set up some sort of ventilation now but I'm paying a price for all the years that I didn't.
It gets almost comical. I wear ear plugs (I'm also half deaf), a dust mask, my glasses (I'm crippled without them) and goggles over the eye glasses. So I can't breath anyway and I really can't breath with a mask on and the the mask fogs the eye glasses and the goggles. I spend more time during the day trying to defog and catch my breath than I do working. Then I'm constantly swapping the goggles for a welding helmet and it's a real mess.
The dust can affect the skin, eyes, respiratory system and more. Some people just can't work with it. Same with the finish chemicals, some are quite toxic.
MGF gets it. Unless you've tried to do a hot, sweaty, physically taxing job for hours on end mired in safety equipment, you dont have much room to talk. Today was a bad day for me at work, working under a steel furnace, flame retardant clothes head to toe buttoned down, tucked in and buttoned up, hard hat, safety glasses, hearing protection, high temps, high humidity, by 7 am I was soaked. My steel toed, metatarsal guarded boots were squishing with sweat as I walked. Covered in dust, sweat, grease, oil, and trying to follow their safety rules, there was NO WAY I could have worn a mask. Sweat, breathing condensation and dust on a mask, safety glasses fogged up? I would have passed out. I was light headed as it was. I couldn't see and took my hard hat and glasses off, a big no-no. Didn't care. I was by myself, struggling and it was less safe with them on. Pushed through, got the job done. Gonna do it again tomorrow, double shift this time.
No, I don't blame bowyers for not always wearing a dust mask... or walking away when their health is at risk.
A little over 2 years ago, he started a 3 month project of ordering around a dozen of the most popular bows. He had never been seen anywhere in the trad community. A bow would arrive, he would set it up, go do a video review with a few dozen shots proclaiming "best bow ever" shoots where you look". Then bow up for sale. Rinse and repeat thru several makes and models.
Then all of a sudden, with no history given of building bows, he and son were bowyers offering higher end bows - each offering introduced with the same formula review as above. Both quit their jobs. Son was the main shop worker - Jeff was marketing primarily. It typically takes years, if ever, for a small startup bowyer to reach a point to comfortably support 1 family without outside work - let alone 2 families. Project was pretty much destined for failure from the start. Dust collectors and masks may have postponed the inevitable a few months at best.
Mike Fedora called this man because of his video about switching from 3 under to split fingers. In the video he was standing at the wrong angle and was hitting his clothes with the bow string. Mike wanted to correct his shooting and when he called Mike back, he asked about bow building and Mike found out about how his shop was set up. Then he found out about the carbon particles in the shop covering the machines and floor. Then he heard that he was having problems with swelling in his hands. Mike knew from John Schultz that he was having health problems. Yes we all think we are strong and safety is not that important until we are having problems. So the man's son called Mike and said he was going to quit because of his kids and he wants to grow old with them. It seems that they did not have someone help with the shop setup and the business got to big for the equipment they have. I know they told Mike that they had a large dust collection system ordered. But that is late for thier health problems that has already started. Exposure to carbon dust is the hardest to control and the other materials are allot different if you have a good system setup. The finish and epoxy also have to have good ventilation and a proper spray booth should be used if a large amount of material is going to be used. So we pray that the Lord will open the eyes of the people and remember anyone even walking around the shop is being exposed. The wife and kids are exposed even when he comes into the house to eat or clean up. The clothes carry the dust.
That’s a shame. They looked like they were up and coming bowyers and had some cool looking product. I recall meeting Jeff Massie at ETAR years ago and He did some alterations for me of some of my longbows. He told Me how hard it was to make a descent profit making bows. And he was well regarded and had a strong following.. great craftsman. I think He went back to being an electrician.
Does sound Health and Safety related. If they didn't have the dust collection and ventilation system to handle the production volume, plus venting to outside is an EPA issue. All the equipment needed to do production safely and legally costs big money.
Yes, Jeff did go back to his career as an electrician. Couldn't afford not to.
