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A freind gave me an old Bear Polar Bow that I set up for Bowfishing. It is 51# but I don't know at what draw length. It also can be shot left or right handed. ( Anyone have any info on this bow ) Anyways I sanded it down and refinished it:
It has a really narrow shelf so I cut a piece of metal, and bent it to fit the grip, sprayed it with a rubber coating, and taped it to the riser with tape which also serves as the grip.
-------------------- Maryland Bowhunters Society Posts: 122 | From: Carroll Co. Maryland | Registered: Mar 2009
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Than I added the "Retracto-O-Blade reel which I also added 2 faced tape, and taped it to the riser.
Then I added a felt shelf pad, and its ready to go. I can easily add a cup for a floating bottle on the front of the rig now for heavier fishing such as skates.
Rainman is making me a black and red string for it also. I figured that way the fish wouldn't see the red string and give me a better chance at missing them. And it shoots those heavy bowfishing arrows very nicely. What do ya think fella's?
-------------------- Maryland Bowhunters Society Posts: 122 | From: Carroll Co. Maryland | Registered: Mar 2009
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That's a 1956 Bear Polar and looks to be in great shape for it's age! Unless otherwise marked, all the old Bears were scaled at 28". I'll be hunting with my '56 next year
-------------------- >>>-TGMM Family Of The Bow--> CT CE/FS Chief Instructor "Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." - Norman Cousins Posts: 5053 | From: East Haddam, CT | Registered: Aug 2004
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Nice bow, but it looks like your brace height is very low and your reel looks to be taped on too close to your arrow...might just be the pix though...
Good luck!
-------------------- Curt } >>--->
"I love you Daddy".......My son Cade while stump shooting 3/19/06 Posts: 16240 | From: NY | Registered: Apr 2003
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The picture and new finish make it look in better shape than it is. Guru, what should the brace height be? Does anyone know? Also there is good clearance on the real. I couldn't drop it anymore because I was getting too close to the shelf pad.
-------------------- Maryland Bowhunters Society Posts: 122 | From: Carroll Co. Maryland | Registered: Mar 2009
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The brace on that bow should be the good ol' fistmele: 6.5-7". You could go higher if needed, but all of my early Polars seem to like that range. I was going by the glass condition - I see lots of the old Polars with pretty bad stress cracks in the glass.
I hope Rainman is making you a B50 string, b/c anything other than that (or linen or silk) on the old bows is asking for trouble.
-------------------- >>>-TGMM Family Of The Bow--> CT CE/FS Chief Instructor "Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." - Norman Cousins Posts: 5053 | From: East Haddam, CT | Registered: Aug 2004
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Brace height of 6 1/2 to 8" would be my guess. Polars are fine old longbows. I think they referred to them as "semi-recurve" what we would now call a reflex/deflex longbow.
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6 1/2" huh? That would explain why the string slapped the the base of my thumb when I was shooting regular arrows. There are some long streaks that rum the length of the limbs in the glass. Would it mater if I leave the longer string on it, and keep the short brace height. I should measure that when I get home.
-------------------- Maryland Bowhunters Society Posts: 122 | From: Carroll Co. Maryland | Registered: Mar 2009
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A really short brace is going to be uncomfortable (string slap) and make it more difficult to tune. It won't hurt the bow though, just your wrist
The Polars were 'semi-recurves' from '55 through '58. It's all reflex in the limbs, with a bit of an extra flip at the tips. Before that they were just straight reflexed longbows and in '59 they became a recurve (just barely a recurve) with a deflexed riser. In the 60's they became true target recurves.
My favorite Polar is the '59-60. Handles like a good longbow and looks great. The '55-'56 double shelf 'semi-recurve' takes a close second though.
I need to take a picture of my Polar rack: '54, '55, '56, '57, and '59 Missing the '58
-------------------- >>>-TGMM Family Of The Bow--> CT CE/FS Chief Instructor "Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." - Norman Cousins Posts: 5053 | From: East Haddam, CT | Registered: Aug 2004
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Missing the '58 ![[pray]](graemlins/xxwpray.gif)
