I was talking to a friend who was telling me about a boy from his childhood that lost an eye trying to string a bow over his other friends knee,and the question popped in my mind. What happens if a bow you make is in the hands of the wrong buyer and they over draw it and it breaks ? What if they loose an eye ? What if they sued you ?
Most Bowyers will never have to worry about this, but as you get to a certain level of sales you might find that, as you are making a primitive piece of archery gear, that there is a level of risk involved.
A hunting guiding company would never dream of going into the bush without a waver and without insurance. But everyday bow makers send off bows of the internet to buyers the never get the chance to explain things to first hand.
A simple first step for someone making their own bows and selling them, is to include a warning paper in your shipment. This is especially useful for buyers that simply order a bow and then send it off.
This is useful in the case that the bow is a present for someone without even basic knowledge or respect for wooden bows that can break easily.
The warning should state exactly what not to do :
Do not string your bow without a proper bow stringer.
Do not over draw the bow past what it was made to do.
Do not shoot damaged arrows.
A shooter should be aware of the risk to his wrist and recommended to use a gauntlet.
A shooter should be aware of the risk to his eyes if anything goes wrong and be suggested to wear eye protection.
The boring list goes on.
Now I will say most bowyers don’t have insurance, and I have never hear of anyone that has been sued and even need their insurance at a hobby level of bow making.
I would not want to see the day when people can’t freely make primitive and exciting items without insurance without the worry of being sued by their customers. But as the world is we know, people get sued for a great many things, some of them start from the ignorance of the user.
I would be interested in finding out more about this, as their is not much information out there about it.
Do you have insurance ?