Trad Gang
Main Boards => Trad History/Collecting => Topic started by: warpedarrow on August 20, 2014, 08:47:00 PM
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I have been putting off cleaning up the '61 because I just didn't know what to do with the multiple dark lines in the glass. I don't know what Fred was thinking when he came up with the schoolhouse green color for that year. The bow had several stress cracks and I knew that they would show through after repair. The rest of the glass was not a solid color as it appears to have little tiny brown fibers mixed in with the green. This meant that there was not matching the color and painting over the stress cracks as can be done on dark colored glass. Anyway, after about two years of putting it off, I came up with an idea. I saw a couple of 61s on here that looked pretty good. One had been re-limbed with black glass and looked great, but I wanted to stay with Fred's stinkin light green color. So here it is. Not perfect but it is back on the rack and looking a whole lot better that it did a month ago. I have thrown in a couple of before pictures of the glass and the rest are after the restore. (http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/IMG_1448_zps3e15acf6.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/IMG_1448_zps3e15acf6.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/IMG_1445_zpscb99245c.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/IMG_1445_zpscb99245c.jpg.html)
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I did something and it posted before all the photos were added. Here are the rest of them.
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial088_zps31878d55.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial088_zps31878d55.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial087_zps08a7e0a4.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial087_zps08a7e0a4.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial084_zpscec51c4c.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial084_zpscec51c4c.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial083_zps12c74525.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial083_zps12c74525.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial081_zpsb9070db5.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial081_zpsb9070db5.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial080_zps90e98bcd.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial080_zps90e98bcd.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial078_zpsead441ab.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial078_zpsead441ab.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial076_zps1ba5d9fd.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial076_zps1ba5d9fd.jpg.html)
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(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial074_zps02460ed1.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial074_zps02460ed1.jpg.html)
(http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg583/bradlehmann/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial090_zps325b57e2.jpg) (http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/bradlehmann/media/1961%20Kodiak%20Special/61KodiakSpecial090_zps325b57e2.jpg.html)
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I agree on the green color comment, but that riser makes up for it.
Great looking bow rack, well done.
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Beautiful bow! Great job!
I like the green! It's a cool bit of history for bear
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Excellent job. You're right, that's a tough one, but you nailed it.
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I am about to give mine to a friend who is planning to try her skills at refinishing it...I will try to get her to send me pictures
DDave
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That's a beautiful piece of Zebrawood!
I also like the weird glass colors of the era-that's what adds to the uniqueness of those old Bears. (proud owner of a 62 KS with the infamous sea foam green :cool: )
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Yes it is a nice looking piece of wood. Thankyou. That bow was probably my least favorite of the dozens of old Bears that I own. It was just dull and ugly until I put about twenty hours of work into it.
Some old bows deserve to be restored. Most anything worth keeping does. I can't imagine owning a '61 Chevy that hasn't had a paint job in fifty five years
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Beautiful bow and well worth the effort! Came out real nice...so how did you do your limb restoration?
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Yes please tell more.. What did you do about the stress and dark lines in the limbs. I have the same bow and am waiting on doing anything out of not knowing where to start ?
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OK, I'll tell you how I did it.
I started out repairing the cracks then sanding the entire bow. It was really easy going on the limbs because the light colored glass really made it easy to see where the old finish was. I have a bit more trouble with the darker glass colors.
My thought was that I wanted to be able to undo any mistakes that I made in the color so I went ahead and gave the entire bow probably six or eight coats of finish. This filled in the sandpaper marks and low spots in the glass so that I would then be able to sand off any mistakes easily. It is hell getting paint out of dimples and scratches. I then carefully masked off the riser and put a piece of tape over each tip over lay. I will get to the paint that I used in a bit. I mixed the paint quite thick and used about 45 psi pressure on my little cup gun. Prior to spraying the limbs, I adjusted the cup gun so that very little paint was coming through. It took several passes of the gun to get solid coverage of the color. The air to paint ratio was so high that the paint was almost dry when it was applied. I had no worry at all about the paint running or sagging. It almost had the texture of the little striker strip on a box of kitchen matches..After spraying the limbs I let the paint cure for a couple of days. I then took a sanding block with 400 grit paper and "cut" the lines where the glass and wood met then sanding the paint off of the wooden sides of the limbs.
I had to find a tiny paint brush and feather the color into the very fine lines on the riser overlay. I probably could have spent more time on the limb tips as the paint line is still visible where I feathered it in. Still doesn't look bad except in a close up photograph. I finished up the bow as normal, applied new dry transfer decals, sprayed a few more coats of finish, then wet sanded and buffed it out.
Now for the paint. I just could not see trying to match the color at an automotive paint store. Who knows how many mixes that it would have taken to get the color right and I didn't want to blow a hundred dollars on paint. So, I got to thinking that probably the most flexible paint made is latex. Why not give it a try? I went to Lowes and started collecting paint chips. Out of the dozens of light greens available none came even close. So after a few days I decided to buy a few of the sample colors in the half pint jars. I bought three and started playing with mixes. What I ended up with is about two parts Valspar Limeade and one part Lafonda Wild West Green. I say about that mix because that is where I started and it dried a little too light. Adding a little more Wild West Green brought it as close as it was going to be. Notice the color on the riser overlay where the limb glass wraps around the black. That is the original color on the narrow line. I wasn't going to attempt putting color on that little line and it is very hard to tell where the paint ends and the glass color begins.
I hope that this helps anyone trying to clean up a '61 or any of the light colored glass bows. It took quite a bit of time compared to most bows that I have done but it came out looking better than most of the bows where I didn't do anything with the glass color.
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Very Nicely Done!
I have done one bow where I painted the limbs. Used a spray can of antique white on an old Hoyt Pro Medalist then approx. 12 to 15 light coats of clear with light sanding. Came out nice but PATIENCE was the key in the prep. Yours obviously took a LOT!!! Thanks for the detailed explanation. Gives me good thought as to what I can do in the future......
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warpedarrow -
Great job of detailing your procedures & excellent work.
Your paint job puts me in mind of some of the 60s Bears I've had with glass painted at the factory to hide the imperfections.
Fred would be proud of you.
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Thankyou for the compliment Wade. It really means a lot to me to hear that from a guy that is as dedicated to collecting as you are.
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If you ever consider refinishing and painting other collector's 61 Kodiaks as a side job, but sure to let me know.
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I'm considering it Wade. Do you have one that is really ugly so you won't get upset if it isn't perfect? My bow was the first limb paint job for me.
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warpedarrow -
Yes, I do. As a matter of fact I have two 1961 Kodiak Specials that have lots of vertical stress cracks in the glass. Both are from Floyd Eccleston's Chippewa Archery Shop. They both have 22 stamped on them and have Floyd's Shop Bow stickers on them. The top one has tight grain wood, the bottom one has open grain.
I would love to have the tight grain one refinished and keep in the Kodiak Special display. The open grain one, I only kept as a filler in case I ever sent off the bold grain to get it refinished. Guess, I have procrastinated on this for way too many years already, I'm ready to to something with them.
I can send you either one, but only one at a time. Let me know what you think.
(http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo301/WadePhillips/61KSFloyds.jpg) (http://s386.photobucket.com/user/WadePhillips/media/61KSFloyds.jpg.html)
Both have varying stress in all limb surfaces... and the finish on both risers is checked and brittle.
(http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo301/WadePhillips/61KS1.jpg) (http://s386.photobucket.com/user/WadePhillips/media/61KS1.jpg.html)
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Wade,
I tried sending you a pm but it would not go as your mailbox is full. Pm me with your email or telephone and I will get in touch.
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warpedarrow -
Just send you an email
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I am in the process of refinishing a Bear bow the the same green laminate. Does anyone know if someone makes stencils to redo the original logos/text. I am working around them now but would like to take the old ones down past the stress cracks.
Thanks
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Al Harford: [email protected]
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Ray,
You can not "go down past the stress cracks". If you go that deep you will have removed the fiberglass from the limb and ruined the bow. The challenge in restoring these old bows is to stabilize the cracks then find a solution to bringing back the beauty of the bow. Dark colored glass is easier to work with because it doesn't show the discoloration inside the cracks as much. Covering them is sometimes as simple as going over the cracks with a colored pen and then putting the finish on. There are no pens that I know of that can match the color on these limbs and if there was one it would still look terrible because of all of the little brownish colored fibers mixed in with the green. I suppose there are ways other than painting the limb such as adding a colored stick- on such as the fake snakeskins for bows but then you have to take what is available or pay big bucks to have some made in the color that you need.