In the past seven months, I have both shipped and had shipped to me a rather astounding number of bows. I have learned several things:
The Post Office's maximum package dimension before they charge you extra for oversize is 84". This is measuring the length of the package and the circumference.
Long recurves cannot be shipping within that limit. Short ones, maybe. I had to ship a bunch of long target recurves, and it was a terrible job... specially constructed boxes, over-charges, etc.
Longbows can generally be shipped within the dimension limit with no trouble.
Whichever type of bow you are shipping, if you don't pack it well, they Postal Gremlins (or UPS Gremlins, or whoever) will do their best to destroy it!
I just collected on a ruined Wing Presentation I that was mint... I shipped it in a carefully constructed heavy cardboard box, two layers thick all over. Apparently they used it as a bridge between two boxes and stacked other packages on it. Anyway, it took me over two months, notarized letters, many phone calls, and a lot of cooperation from the buyer before my insurance claim was honored.
Here are pictures of a bow box I received yesterday. It was a new Howard Hill, and luckily, all of the damage was confined to the box. However, I had to gamble on that. The postman wouldn't let me open the box and inspect the bow. I had to sign for and accept delivery or the package went back. As he put it, "Damage is between you and headquarters." That is no idle threat, as described above.
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Okay... today I received another bow. This one was shipped by Michael from our list. He put it in a cloth tube case, wrapped it in bubble pack, over-wrapped the tips with about a section's thickness of newspaper, taped the whole works and then inserted into a 3.5" x72" length of pvc piping. The ends were stuffed with more newspaper and sealed, thickly, with duct tape. A 3.5" tube has a circumference of just under 11". Length of 72" plus circumference of 11" equals 83"... safely under the Post Office break point. I offer the next picture as a comparison:
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Now, this is, admittedly, an extreme example. Most bows shipped in boxes do, in fact, get there. I have a lot of boxes behind my furnace to bear witness to that. However, this should provide you with some information and food for thought. If you don't do anything else, insure!
I am particpating in a "traveling bow" project. The bow goes to a different person each month and we document whatever adventure we take it on. That bow is scheduled for more than a dozen shippings, and believe me, it moves in a pvc tube!
I doubt any of us would put our bows on an airplane in a cardboard box, but both we and the makers turn them over to the shipping people in cardboard every day! On an airline, your package gets wrestled on and off once, maybe twice per trip. In shipping or mailing, it gets picked up, put on a truck, taken to a distribution center, where it is machine handled (so much for "fragile"), then taken to the airport and loaded on a plane or to a long haul trucking center and loaded on a container truck, taken to your city, unloaded and again machines handled, put on a truck to your zip area post office or UPS distribution point, then put in the mailman's scooter or the UPS truck. Yikes! I think I'm going to become a good friend to my local plumbing supply store.
Dick
Specific Instructions on Packing a Longbow in a Tube
Some time after posting the material above, i was asked for more specific instructions about tube packing longbows. I have provided a detailed page on this topic at:
A Super Packing Job
I had to ship a take down Black Widow to Australia this morning. Naturally, I was real concerned about the amount of time it would spend in transit, the numbser of times it would be handles and the opportunities for damage. I decided to take some extra effort and consulted my scrap wood supply. A piece of pine 1x4 and a length of 1/8" plywood door skin offered the opportunity to properly crate it for international shipping. The box ended up 37" x 8" x 3". The side frames and the bottom were nailed and glued. The top was screwed on. The bow limbs were wrapped in upholstery batting and taped, then any empty spaces in the box were filled with more batting. This approach works great for a take down, but the box would be prohibitively expensive due to size and weight for a one piece longbow. However, I enjoyed the effort and the result and thought I'd share it in case it might be useful for someone else in the future.
Inside... bow wrapped and spaces filled... |
Finished and ready for the Post Office. |
Dick