Well I spent a few hours at the factory today. Had a chance to look at the new 2010 line up and see them being made. From laminated limbs, to machined three piece risers and the entire assembly process in between. There is no doubt in my mind now that the three piece riser is built with incredible integrity. There are 7 Stainless Steel pins pressed into the riser sections, and then 4 lock tight secured nuts and bolts. Once the pieces are pressed together and the unit tumbled and buffed, I had to look closely with good light to see that there was actually a seam. On most of them you cannot even see where they are put together. Once primered and waiting on the camo film coating, that seam is invisible and likely stronger then a one piece riser.
One thing is for sure, they are saving a fortune building them in three sections over the amount of waste and scrap to machine them out of a bigger block and then lose and recycle the majority that is not part of the riser.
No wonder Martin Bows are usually several hundred bucks cheaper then the other big dogs in the market. The Limbs are laminated as well. Add to that the innovative features and I was very impressed by the company. I had ordered a 2010 Firecat TR1 a week ago from a dealer. When I was there I spoke to the order entry lady and she confirmed that my bow was in the process right now in their facility. I probably saw it along the way!
The finish room is the best part of the business. Where they assemble every bow to the desire of the buyer. For instance I wanted mine in all black with carbon fiber limbs in 65lb max draw weight. I could have asked for camo riser, or black riser, or camo limbs, or red riser or pretty much what ever combination you want. They usually offer bows in 15 lb range with maximum at 50-60-70 but I wanted a 65max so they made mine 50 to 65lbs rather then the normal offering.
Anyhow, They are not right on the beaten path so I'm sure many of you guys cannot get there to see what it's like. If you wanna know anything about this operation from an unbiased non-paid first hand witness, ask away.
Over all I was surprised it was a smaller operation then I first thought or expected. They have rooms for each operation and a zillion parts of every type to manufacture their bows. They also have a great selection of bows they have made since Damon Howat was a partner, and lots of prototype stuff that never made it to the market. I was also stunned at the arrow manufacturing/assembly process they have!
