Business & Tech

For Archers, Square-Up Solves Bow Torque, Creates Robin Hoods

"This is the next step in the evolution of archery."

 

By Darren Kramer

Just about every great American invention, starts with an “Aha!” moment. For Killingworth’s Mike Scaniffe, the “Aha!” moment came in his front yard.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Mike Scaniffe is an engineer at a computer circuit board company by day, but his real love is archery. Mike first picked up a bow as a teenager, and was hooked. He spent much of his young life bowhunting, and tinkering with the strings and pulleys and screws that make a modern bow work.

When Madison’s last archery shop “Antlers and Anglers” went out of business in the late 90’s, the drive to the nearest bow shop became a long one. Scaniffe decided to learn the trade of a “bow technician” so he could do the work himself.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The goal of a “bow tech” is to make a bow shoot as straight and true as possible. One day about four years ago, Mike was struggling with getting a bow “tuned” just right. He couldn’t get it. He would pick the bow up, shoot it, fiddle with its workings, and put it back down again. Finally after a couple of days, he took the bow out to his front yard to shoot it, and when the bow was drawn, he looked up. The string was coming off the top cam of the bow at a slight angle. Despite the fact that he had adjusted the bow properly, and that he was a well-trained archer who had good technique, the bow was torquing in his hands. “Aha!”

Mike ran to his shop and grabbed two pieces of copper wire. He taped them near the back side of his bow to use as a reference, so he could tell when the bow was twisting even ever so slightly in his hand. It worked. Those two wires were to become the “Square-Up.”

Mike built a series of prototypes. Got a patent. Found a fabrication company in Arizona to make the parts. Took his invention to trade shows. Then, he harnessed the magic of the internet.

Mike gathered some friends and made a video. Another buddy helped him market it on the internet. It touched a nerve. In the last six months, the Square-Up video (SquareUpArchery.com) has nearly 150,000 views on YouTube. Archers literally from all over the planet have put them on their bows, and they love it. The Square-Up solves a problem that even seasoned archers can suffer, bow torque.

There is one common problem though. Archers who use the Square-Up often “Robin Hood” their arrows. A “Robin Hood” is when one arrow plows directly into the backside of another that is already stuck in the target. Two shots, in exactly the same spot. Each “Robin Hood” usually results in the loss of a ten-dollar arrow, but the big grins they cause seem to even the tab.

This month, after firmly catching the attention of the archery business, Square-Up signed a deal with the “World’s Foremost Outfitter” Cabela’s, to have the Square-Upsold both on Cabelas.com and in the company’s archery catalogs. The world is about to meet what started as two copper wires in a Killingworth garage.

So what comes next for “Square-Up” and the man who invented it? “Our goal is to have a Square-Up on every bow sold,” said Scaniffe. “There have been evolutions in the archery industry before.” “No bows had peep-sights, now nearly every bow has a peep- sight.” “No one was using a mechanical release, now everyone is using a mechanical release.” “This is the next step in the evolution of archery.”

If that goal comes true, that will certainly been a lucrative “Aha!” moment. There are more than three million bow hunters in the US, and an estimated ten million people participating in archery.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here