I'm almost exclusively a longbow guy, and shipping them well has always been fairly easy.  PVC or heavy cardboard tube.

Seems on the rare occasion I have to ship a recurve I'm scrambling trying to find the best way to do it, and with what materials.  I've ended up making wood boxes/shipping crates out of ripped 1X4 and 1/4" plywood.  Works well, but a little time consuming.  







This is a Kodiak Magnum I boxed up today.  I pad it internally before screwing down the top.  So what works well for you?

I've used golf club boxes to ship K mags. Work well and there a little heavier cardboard.

I use 2" thick pink or blue board (insulation) and an empty house siding box. I draw the design of the bow on the pink board, cut the design out, lay the bow in the cut out and then cover the cutout sides of the pink board with thin cardboard.  Slip into the siding box and tape the crap out of it and mail.  When you get into 62" and longer bows you pay extra shipping fees for oversized packages.  I have mailed bows to Iraq and Afganistan this way without a problem.

Yours certainly looks very stable but might be on the heavy side which increases the mailing costs.

I've used a variety of boxes. One of my favorites is firearms boxes with reinforced cross pieces inside.

Home Depot and pick up the large boxes long lights come in. The bubble wrap the bow and place 3" of foam on each end of the box. Wrap the limb tips with extra bubble wrap.

Rob did a box along in the classifieds section tells you everything you need to know. The most important element is insure what you ship, if you can build it they can destroy it so no point in going too overboard.

Same as you with the 1x4 frame, well padded inside and heavy cardboard outside (instead of plywood). Some clear tape at some points as well.
Your way looks about as good as it can get.

Someone had a thread a while ago about making triangular boxes. I think the round tubes are harder for the post office to handle. Flat boxes, unless built like your 1x4 & plywood tend to bend in the middle easily if they aren't lying flat when something is piled on top of them. The triangle is the strongest geometric figure (which is why you see them in all the antennae tower construction. I've had pretty good luck building heavy cardboard triangles and then, as mentioned above, tape the living daylights out of them  

There's a real busy gun store right around the corner from my shop. Their recycle bin is a gold mine for shipping containers. Just remember to keep your total length + girth dimension under 80" or you'll get hit with a surcharge that will about double your cost.

Cardboard boxes from USPS and bubble wrap and INSURE them.

I use heavy cardboard refrigerator boxes from a local appliance store and cut them to fit.   Pad the bow, fill up space with crinkled paper and insure them for more than the price the customer paid.  Have shipped a lot of bows and never had a problem.  

Have received several bows with recurve tips sticking out of the cardboard.  Never had one damaged but it's a miracle.

Google "one piece recurve travel case"
the first result is for some tradgang posts
the second one has travel/shipping cases.

I've used electric baseboard heat box's on several bows but the best I think is when you ship in a 1/4" plywood box like the one built above...If you use the 1/4" underlayment for vinyl floors you can cut with a skill saw or even a utility knife now days and make a box...Save the bubble wrap and foam you get from everything you buy these days and you never  know when you want to trade/sell a bow or even some arrows...I keep a stash of box's,carpet tubes and bubble wrap just in case I get the itch to trade/sell something...

Ditto on the 80" length...
Last bow was going to cost $63 to go about 100 miles down the interstate.I'm driving over and do lunch and still have money left over.
On the box,find a 4"x8" by?? and cut down one long side then reglue into a triangle per blades' thread.Really toughens it up... but still pad the "snort' out of it.Any leftover c'board,rip and doublewall it.
Mike

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000125

I've always had good luck with 6" carpet cardboard tubes and priority USPS shipping.

Andrew I rec'd the bow in the picture today and you did a great job packing it.  I think I could run over the box with a truck without damaging the bow.  

I call my packaging engineer, John Anderson, and he designs me a custom sized corrugated box ! Usually a 5 panel folder, end load, with full over lapping flaps for extra strength ... I was in the packaging business for 41 years and a well designed corrugated box is way better than wood.

Happy New Year All !!

I've used Jack's method.  I have used carpet tube and when I have no other materials, I go to an automotive body reair shop.  They usually have something close to what I need. If not, they usually have something that can be easily modified.

If I have flat stock, sometimes I make triangle boxes.  The padding is key.