Arms of valor bows
Feb 12, 2007 5:41:39 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2007 5:41:39 GMT
I don't own any of them, but I've shot traditional archery for several years. The only possible downside I can see is that all the bows they offer are "selfbows", which means they're made out of a solid piece of one type of wood. Most ancient bows were made out of one piece of wood (or two pieces laminated together) so they are historically plausible, but most modern bows are made from laminates of several pices of wood, or wood and fiberglass (for example, I shoot Howard Hill bows, which are laminated bamboo and fiberglass) which increases the bows strength by several orders of magnitude.
The problem with selfbows is that, regardless of build quality, there can be unnoticeable imperfections in the wood that may not become apparent until several rounds of shooting have been done, so, even though they test the bows before they leave the factory, that doesn't guarantee they won't break after some use.
The upside is that when selfbows fail, they tend to do so pretty early on in their lives, and A0V offers a one year warranty against breakage (due to defect in bow), so you're covered pretty well on that count.
I believe both the bows you're looking at are hickory, which is good, since hickory is about the toughest wood you can find. Aov's prices are very comparable to other websites that sell selfbows, and Jason (trueswordsman) from A0V is a member here, so you would be able to discuss any problems or questions you had directly with him, so I say go for it.
A couple of bits of advice, should you decide to get one:
1. NEVER leave the bow strung when you're not shooting it. Get a proper longbow stringer (I don't know if AoV's bows come with one or not) to do this.
2.Find out if the bows are sealed (ask trueswordsman [Jason]). If they aren't, get some tung oil at the local hardware store and apply it to the bow to seal it from moisture. This shouldn't effect the warranty, but again, check with Jason. Since hickory is extremely dense, you'll probably get best results by mixing the tung oil 1 to 1 with some paint thinner to get it to soak in (and, again, check with Jason to make sure you don't void your warranty and to see if he has additional comments or suggestions /index.cgi?action=viewprofile&user=trueswordsman).
One more suggestion: unless you're going to be hunting with the bow, go with something in the 30-40# range. That's all you need for target shooting and it will also allow you to work on your shooting form much better than a heavier bow.
The problem with selfbows is that, regardless of build quality, there can be unnoticeable imperfections in the wood that may not become apparent until several rounds of shooting have been done, so, even though they test the bows before they leave the factory, that doesn't guarantee they won't break after some use.
The upside is that when selfbows fail, they tend to do so pretty early on in their lives, and A0V offers a one year warranty against breakage (due to defect in bow), so you're covered pretty well on that count.
I believe both the bows you're looking at are hickory, which is good, since hickory is about the toughest wood you can find. Aov's prices are very comparable to other websites that sell selfbows, and Jason (trueswordsman) from A0V is a member here, so you would be able to discuss any problems or questions you had directly with him, so I say go for it.
A couple of bits of advice, should you decide to get one:
1. NEVER leave the bow strung when you're not shooting it. Get a proper longbow stringer (I don't know if AoV's bows come with one or not) to do this.
2.Find out if the bows are sealed (ask trueswordsman [Jason]). If they aren't, get some tung oil at the local hardware store and apply it to the bow to seal it from moisture. This shouldn't effect the warranty, but again, check with Jason. Since hickory is extremely dense, you'll probably get best results by mixing the tung oil 1 to 1 with some paint thinner to get it to soak in (and, again, check with Jason to make sure you don't void your warranty and to see if he has additional comments or suggestions /index.cgi?action=viewprofile&user=trueswordsman).
One more suggestion: unless you're going to be hunting with the bow, go with something in the 30-40# range. That's all you need for target shooting and it will also allow you to work on your shooting form much better than a heavier bow.