Jan Opletal - Bow Maker

I gradually came to make bows through two different paths. One was my lifelong work with composite materials and the other was my interest in archery. I spent my childhood by the water around boats and windsurfing. As a high school student I used to be on my vacations by the sea and instead of taking summer jobs I earned money by making surfboards. In the process I gained my first experience with fiberglass and later carbon laminates, vacuum lamination and surface treatments.

After graduating from high school I pursued composite materials professionally while studying materials engineering in college and my brother and I founded Frople Snowboards. This was followed by many years of further learning about surface treatment technologies, bonding various materials and their processing. I later applied this experience to my current production of the highest quality JanBows traditional bows.

My second passion was archery. I did not have and still do not have personal competitive and sporting ambitions. Rather I was somehow captivated by the mysterious world of archery and the bow inspired me to create my own through its simple beauty and functionality. Aside from my countless childhood experiments I made my first bow in 1993. It was a three-piece recurve bow made based on pictures in magazines. It lasted me a year and my next bow was a purchased olympic bow. As my knowledge and curiosity grew I switched to different types of bows from compound to short hunting recurve and longbows and back to a one piece reflex bow. At the time I thought my search for the ideal bow was over.

But then around 2008 I had the chance to shoot a hybrid longbow and after just a few shots I knew for sure: “This is what I’ve been looking for!” I wanted to buy a top quality bow like that, but there wasn’t one available. So now I make these traditional custom bows myself and I’m grateful for it.