another for you old Bear guys

[C Kerley]

I obtained three old bows this past weekend.  Two of them, Kodiak Mag and Grizzly, are painted and I'm getting on that tonight.  The Grizzly has a hole drilled in it from side to side (not front to back) and it's probably near 1/2" diameter.  I'm gonna put a dowel in it as I'm refinishing it anyway, but what do I glue that in with?  I have standard Elmers wood glue and Gorilla glue at home now, would either of those work?  

Second, one of them has a star stamped near the serial number, didn't that have something to do with a factory re-finish job?

And finally third, one was a Tamerlane and after about two hours of scrubbing and polishing with toothpaste it came out to about a 99% bow.  Will the serial number indicate the year it was made like the '64-'69 Kodiaks do?  (it starts with "22").  

(Cameron I know you'll read this, the boys at BW are gonna disown me if I don't stay away from these old Bears!)

[PAPALAPIN]

If the seriel number onthe bow starts with "22" that would make it a 1962. Howevere they did not start that until 1965.   The first tamerlane was 1961, I think so it coud be a '61, '62, '63, or '64.

That hole in the K-Mag riser sounds like it was drilled for a berger button or something.  If I were going to plug it, I would try to find a good hardwood dowel, not just a regular old dowel.

As far as glue goes, I really don't think it matters.  There should be no stress on that point.  The glue will be just to hold the dowel in place.

HTe one thatreallyneeds to answer that question id Droptine59 and I am surehe will chime in here shortley.

Posting pictures of the Tamerlane would be a big help in identifying the year.

[ckruse]

Carlos, the star stamp appears mostly on K-mags from 61, 62, or 63. Email me a picture and I can most likely tell you which one it is. I was over at BW last Wednesday, and they still haven't disowned me! I've probably got 60 or 70 Grayling Bears at this time (maybe more, I really need to inventory). They are still talking to me, and their bows are still my "go to" for hunting. Got one with the Golden Anniversary recurve a couple of weeks ago. Still looking for a good buck. Good to see you on here! CKruse

[PAPALAPIN]

Cameron

You go to your JET one time for hunting and you will quit playing with those "girlie bows"

Every collector should have a widow in his collection so he can appreciate a "good bow" when he finally gets a Howard.

[C Kerley]

[C Kerley]

The Tamerlane.  Is that wood awesome, or were all of them similar?

[C Kerley]

This is the Kodiak Mag with the hole in it, and the serial number is 12E94 if anything can be done with that.  So does the star mean anything then?

The green one is what he believed was the Grizzly.  The serial number to it shows it to be a '64.

[C Kerley]

The Grizzly has it's own records like "notches on a gun handle".  The first three are IL whitetails, the last is a CO mulie.  I'm gonna refinish both of these, but I think I'll leave these marks there!

What do you think of that plexiglass sight system.  He said he had to do that because he kept shooting over the deer's back when they were right under him, and he could ignore it when shooting out in front of him.  

 

[ckruse]

Jack, I do like the Howard bows I own, but I just don't shoot them as well as my Widows. I'll save the argument for another thread, but 50 years of quality and service from a top-flite company with a top-flite product speaks for itself. I do intend to do some hunting with my Howard Gamemasters someday.
 Now, on to identifying these bows. The Tamerlane appears to be a 1963, which was the first year it was produced. In 64 they installed the sight plate and brush rest in all of them. Your K-Mag appears to me to be a late production 1961, judging by the fact it is an I beam riser. I bet it has "Grayling Green" fiberglass which is kind of an Avacado colored green. That would cinch it as being a 1961 (also the first year for that bow). The Grizzly has Zebrawood and brown glass, making it a 64 or 65. If the first number of the serial number starts with a 5, it's a 65. Any other and it's a 64. It's also a 58" AMO Grizzly, I'd bet. Really cool finds. The Grizzly could tell a few tales I bet! It appears you are infected with the bow gathering fever. Take care, Cameron

[Ga.boy]

Could that hole and the star mean it was a dealer display bow? Didnt they put pegs or something through the blemished bows that they used as dealer displays?

[ckruse]

The star stamp is said to indicate a factory refinish, factory second, or as one of much greater knowledge than I said - something they wanted to close out. I feel that the latter is true in a lot of them in this year range. I've seen otherwise perfect bows with a good factory finish that were hit with the stamp. I think for several years this may have been a way of "moving them out" at the end of a run. This may have allowed some of these bows to be sold at a discount. The 1961 story is fairly well documented. Most 61 Kodiaks and Kodiak Mags were built with wood that was not fully dried. They stress cracked badly almost immediately. A number were returned to the factory for a facelift. Lots of them had the serial numbers removed and were star stamped.

The display bows were usually stamped as such and in this era would have three screw holes in the sight window area for arrows to be tacked there. I don't know what the purpose of that hole is. CKruse

[Horney Toad]

The Tamerlane is really nice. I think it is a 1963. I believe the 1964 model had the sight plate, or sights. I have one with awesome wood as well. Brazilian rosewood, you can't get that wood anymore.

[PAPALAPIN]

I am not that knowledgeable about the Grizzlys, but I agree on the '63 Tamerlane and the 61 Kodiak Magnum.  Althought the '63 Tameralne is the earliest I have ever seen, I saw something recently that said that the Tamerlanes were introduced in '61.  That could have been an error.  Can't believe everything you read.

I have a '63 Type I Kodiak Magnum that came out of the Greyling Museum.  It had one hole in the sight window, and one right were that one is located.  It had been zip tied to pegboard in the Greyling museum as a display bow.

I know the three holes Cameorn is referring too.  They would put three thin eye bolts (or screws) in a line up the sight window.  Then put an arrow through each, all being nocked on the string at the same nocking point.  This made an "arrow fan" on the display bow.  Looked KQQL.


Now Cameron, Jack Howard started making bows in 1947.  Mrs Howard told me that was the same year they got married.  He passed away in 2005 and still had two bows in progress at the time.  That is 58 years of bows made only by his hand.  No production line mass production.  Each one quality controlled by the man himself.

Again, I say take a Howard hunting and you will see what you have been missing.  You will leave the "girlie bows" at home.  They do make pretty wall hangers, though.  I have on just for that reason.

[C Kerley]

I can't believe these bows will clean up like this.  This is that nasty Grizzly in the picture above!

[C Kerley]

I decided to leave his "harvest records" on it, but wow what patience it took to remove all the paint around them.

[PAPALAPIN]

GOOD JOB

I agree on leaving the "harvest record".  That is the "history"of the bow.  Adds character.

[C Kerley]

The old Kodiak Mag didn't turn out bad either.  That gloss poly hides my rookie flaws well!

[Falk]

a lovely bow right there!

[d. ward]

Stars-X's-A's-2's- and 22's plus some Y's are stamped in many Bear bows.Bear Archery rarely and really rarely ever refished bows.It just cost them to much to refinsh a bow.They had a warehouse full of replacements already.Any good bowyer will tell ya the finishing process is sometimes more time consumeing than getting the bow itself shooting....It was cheeper for Bear to replace the bad bows with a new one.Yes you guessed it.....Stars and X's served as replacement bows for one's that the finsih went bad on and also replacements for bows with stress cracks.Warrinty replacements generaly had one of several things stamped into the riser.But as Cam mentioned also sold at discount prices to archery and sporting goods shops boy and girl scout troops.Donated to church groups and sold to archery lanes.Factory refinsed bows from Bear Archery usely ended up being camo painted pending if they were less then one year old,bd