Like many devoted traditional archers and bowhunters, I love the stately beauty and the simple graceful lines of recurves and longbows. And although I have owned and/or shot bows built by many of the top-end bowyers from around the United States and Canada, I was still overwhelmed by a sense of awe when I opened the shipping carton that arrived from friend and bowyer Ric Anderson of Whitefish, Montana and had my fist glimpse of my new custom Marriah Thermal Take Down Recurve bow.

Ric owns and operates Marriah Bows, a small bow building operation where he makes a limited number of custom recurves and longbows each year to fill orders for his world-wide clientele. His offerings include the Chinook longbow, the Williwaw and Eastwind, both one piece recurves, and my personal favorite, the Thermal Take Down recurve. Having owned most of the bows in the Marriah line, I had learned that the when purchasing a Marriah bow, one purchases something special and my new recurve was all that and more.

The bow that arrived at my North Dakota home had been on order for more than a year and the time spent waiting for this treasure to arrive only added to the anticipation I experienced as I cut through the final band of shipping tape and opened the carton for the first time. There, carefully nestled in a cradle of bubble wrap and crumbled newspaper was a truly beautiful work of art. The bow was as ordered: 58 inches long and 47 pounds at my draw length with a cocobola riser and yew limbs. But as the consummate artist, Ric had added some personal touches to my basic bow choices that served to accentuate the beauty of the natural woods and to make this a particularly unique recurve.

Pacific yew, a renown bow limb material, is a pretty, honey-colored wood. When combined with the deep, rich tones of the figured cocobola riser, the combination is as beautifully understated as it is eye-poppingly gorgeous. But Ric took the appearance of this already perfect pairing of woods to yet another level by adding a bloodwood pinstripe down the full length of the limb, making the appeal of this bow even stronger.

And speaking of strength, the standard cosmetic enhancements on Ric’s bows, things that are typically expensive options when ordered on other bowyer’s custom works, include a shelf overlay of antler on the belly side of the bow’s riser and antler limb tips that are carved in the shape of an arrow head. According to Ric, these enhancements are not just beautiful, but also add to the functional strength of his bows. On the Thermal that I received from Ric, I was both surprised and delighted to discover that the antler overlay and tips he had chosen for my bow were actually Mammoth ivory. Needless to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

And if all of this additional artistry wasn’t enough, the discovery of limb overlays carefully crafted of stabilized box elder burl and positioned at the location of the brass limb bolts and bezels was more beautiful than can be described. In fact, everything about this bow was simply stunning.

But since even the prettiest bows are still designed for the purpose of taking into the field, I set myself toward the task of assembly in preparation for taking the Thermal out to shoot. The bow was easy to put together with the included allen wrench and as expected, limb alignment and fit to the riser were both flawless. Rather than using the B-50 Dacron string that had been sent with the bow, I replaced it with a custom Mountain Muffler string made of 450+, a low stretch, high performance material. I set the brace height at seven inches, placed a nock point a quarter inch above center and headed to my archery range with a variety of carbon and cedar arrows to shoot the bow.

I could feel the limbs load smoothly as I drew the bow the first time. When I reached anchor and released the 480 grain arrow toward the target, I was amazed at the cast. This bow wasn’t just beautiful, it was also fast! There seemed to be just a bit of excess noise upon release, so I raised the brace height by slightly more than another quarter inch and shot again. The bow instantly responded with a quiet “thunk” when the string released the second arrow and it was clear that I had discovered the bow’s sweet spot.

After determining which arrow tuned the best with the bow, I shot a quick 20-yard, three arrow group into one of my 3D targets and then walked forward to get a better look. The size of the group was only three inches, indicating that not only was this bow a cosmetic and artistic masterpiece, but it was perfectly engineered and crafted for accuracy. A quick study of some of the Thermal’s design features suggests a few of the reasons why.

First, the bow is perfectly balanced at the throat with a low shelf and comfortably narrow grip. These features reduce torque and position the arrow directly over the bow hand, which greatly enhances shot consistency. Next, the riser geometry is straight to slightly reflexed. This feature accentuates performance while providing a nice balance of forgiveness. Finally, the Thermal’s generous sight window allows for a clear, unobstructed view to the target regardless of whether archers choose to cant the bow or hold it in a more upright position. This intelligent design feature provides great flexibility in accommodating almost every style of traditional shooting.

In terms of price, the Marriah Thermal is arguably one of the best values in terms of custom take down recurves. The base price of the bow is $595.00 and considering the Thermal’s outstanding performance coupled with the bow’s generous standard features, this price is a bargain.

There are many custom bowyers with many custom bows on the market today. In fact, the offerings and options available to the traditional archery enthusiast can be truly overwhelming at times. Perhaps that is why I continue to return to Marriah Custom Bows built by Ric Anderson as I add to my bowhunting arsenal. With the perfect blend of performance, beauty, and price, the Marriah Thermal stands as one of the top choices for a custom bow today. It is the perfect balance of function and form, a pleasure to shoot and deadly in the field. And from the point of view of this traditional bowhunter, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

 

© August 2007