Archery retails
The makers I sell for
There's no cart on this page, and that's on purpose. Everything below is ordered the old way: you email me, we talk through what you need, and I quote you plainly. I stock and ship for these makers in North America.
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Vermil Archery
Handcrafted thumb rings and nocks from Thailand: the Victory, Lotus II and Turkish lines, in resin and metal. You can also browse the maker's own site.
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AliBow
Established 2003 in Anhui, China, one of China's original traditional-bow workshops, building laminated and fiberglass Asiatic bows and arrows in Turkish, Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese styles. I stock and ship AliBow gear directly.
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Mariner
The working name of bowyer Gui Shunxing of Hubei, China, making laminated bows since 2001: bamboo or bamboo-and-maple cores under Bearpaw fiberglass.
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Dulay Archery
A small maker whose work I carry, website coming soon. Until I can link them properly, just email me and I'll walk you through what's on the shelf.
link & photos to come -
Jaap Koppedrayer of “Yumi Bows”
Maker of traditional Japanese yumi and Han-style bamboo bows, plus arrows and accessories. I'll point you the right way. Jaap builds and ships his bows himself.
partner referral · jaap ships direct
Bows
Fiberglass and laminated, from first bow to heavy warbow. Custom requests welcome: core, limb face, draw weight, the lot.
Arrows
Bamboo and carbon, spined and cut for your bow. Custom requests welcome: length, point weight, fletching.
Thumb rings
Resin and metal rings from Vermil's Victory, Lotus II and Turkish lines. If you've never been fitted for one, ask. Sizing matters more than style.
Quivers
Side and back quivers in stitched leather, built for ground work and for horseback.
Nocks
Vermil nocks for self-nocked and modern shafts. Email me your shaft size and I'll match them.
String beads
Small, traditional, and easy to lose, so I keep them on hand. Ask when you order a string or a bow.
Online coaching: Gao Ying method
by donation · $1.00 or more gets you a form check
Send me a video of your shot and I'll go through it frame by frame (posture, thumb-ring draw, release) against the method I trained in.
Gao Ying (高穎) was a Ming-dynasty archery master who, in 1637 at age 67, distilled forty years of practice into a detailed military archery treatise. His method, covering posture, the thumb-ring draw, training progressions, and the mental discipline he called “the Way of Archery” (射之道), influenced generations of archers across East Asia. It was brought to modern readers by Justin Ma and Jie Tian in their 2015 translation and commentary, The Way of Archery: A 1637 Chinese Military Training Manual, and it's the method I teach.
Portland, OR area
Horse & mounted archery training
The other half of the business, and the older half of my life. Everything here starts with the horse's welfare. We go at the horse's pace, not the calendar's.
- Horse training 16+ years of experience starting, restarting, and finishing horses.
- Desensitization Calm, systematic exposure work, at the horse's pace, always.
- Lessons Riding and mounted archery lessons. Own horse required.
- Groundwork The foundation under everything else: leading, yielding, trust.
Learn to Horse Care 101, 102, 103
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101
Safe from the start
Safety around horses and the parts of the horse: how to read them, where to stand, what they're telling you.
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102
Daily care
Grooming and everyday handling, done properly and done kindly.
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103
When it matters
Vet-care basics: leg wrapping, colic care, and knowing when to make the call. Hands-on experience throughout.
New to mounted archery as a sport? A good first stop is the Mounted Archery Association of the Americas.
About me
Hi, I'm Ben
I've been on horseback since I was a kid, and I've spent more than ten years working with horses: vaulting, riding with a jumping team, and shadowing vets to learn the care side as well as the riding side. Somewhere along the way I picked up a bow, and the two never let go of each other: these days I shoot from the ground and from the saddle, and I draw heavy war bows for the plain stubborn joy of it.
I studied the traditional Gao Ying method of Chinese military archery, and I teach both crafts, archery and horsemanship, the same way I learned them: patiently, in person where I can, and by email or video when I can't. If you write to me, you get me, not a ticket number. I usually answer within a day or two.
Contact
Get in touch
Orders, custom requests, lessons, form checks, or just questions, it all starts the same way. Fill this in and hit Send to Ben.