Oddball 57 Kodiak Special...

[Hobow]

Now I haven't seen many 57 Kodiak Specials in my neck of the woods, but I've never seen one like this...

Shelf side;

 

 

 

 

5 layers of wood on top of the base wood from the sight window to the upper fade out, 3 at the lower fade.

It seems like 2 more than usual to me, now for the opposite side...

[Hobow]

Check out the opposite side;

 

 

 

 

Has anyone seen another KS like this?  I haven't seen one with multiple laminations like this one has, I was pretty shocked when I slid the camo up...

Brad

[johnnyrazorhead]

That is sweet looking!

[59Alaskan]

I'd LIKE to see one of those in my neck of the woods!!

Very interesting find!  Congrats.  Looks like a beautiful bow.  What are the stats on it ?  Length/weight?

[Hobow]

Thank you!  With the serial # being 346 which was well into production, I wonder if it was just a worker that got a wild hair that day or if he made it for someone specifically.  I'm sorry for leaving the specs off, 64" and 54#'s.

 

 

 

[59Alaskan]

That is in amazing shape!  WOW!

[Bjorn]

Beautiful! Bet that was made for a special customer or dealer, they did keep a list. The guy's name is probably under that leather wrap!    

[Windsurfer]

Very beautiful and unique bow.  Do you the history, perhaps it was special made for someone like Fred himself or one of his friends.  Worth looking into.  Thanks for the post.  Dave

[Hobow]

Bjorn, you are making it hard on me now!  I like original bows but the thought of a name under the grip is pretty intriguing...  The gentleman that I bought it from had purchased it from an estate sale roughly 10 years ago to hunt with but had never even strung it up.  He didn't know the previous owners name.

Thanks,

Brad

[Horney Toad]

Really nice laminations on that one!

[ron w]

That's really neat!!

[Hobow]

I read that Bear offered an option for additional laminations during the 50's, is that true?  If so, I wonder if that explains this bow?  

Bjorn, the list that you refer to of dealers and special customers, is it just what it sounds like, a list of names that could potentially match up to a name under the grip?

[NancyVTAS]

I have soaked a rag in acetone, wrapped the grip, and it releases the glue. It can be put back as it has not been harmed.

[Larry m]

Very unique and very good looking. The older KS's are nice shooting bows and what an eye catcher you have.

[Bjorn]

Hobow the 'list' I am referring to would have been kept at the factory...........well known guides, hunting buddies, politicians, investors etc. And their bows got special treatment. It is a known fact notes were written under the leather wrap...........have come across that twice.
Absolutely great looking bow you have there! Have not seen one quite like that before!

[Wade Phillips]

Brad -

Great looking bow. Yours is the first 1957 Kodiak Special I have seen like that.

I wouldn't attempt to remove the grip as it is a little rough at the overlap area and the leather is so thin right there that it will probably break apart at the thin and cracked places if you try to remove it.

As mentioned, many of the old leather grip bows have words written under the grips. While some of the words are understandable, some are not and unfortunately some are even misleading.

I found a 1953 Kodiak with no grip and "Whiffen" written under where the grip had been. Knowing that Larry Whiffen Sr. died in 1960 and was a good friend, hunting partner and business associate of Fred's for many years, I initially thought I had a pretty nice find.

Since the 1970s, I've been good friends with his son, Larry Whiffen Jr, and right away finding the bow I told Larry about the bow hoping he would tell me that his Dad always shot heavy bows. Much to my disappointment, he said that his Dad never shot heavy bows, so obviously the bow was simply a special order for a customer of Whiffen Archery.

So remember if you find something written under the grip, it likely will not be the entire history of the bow.

Not sure what you are referencing when you asked...

       

Originally posted by Hobow:

I read that Bear offered an option for additional laminations during the 50's, is that true?...

Can you tell us exactly where you read that and the exact words?

In the case of the 1955 to 1957 Kodiak Special, there were different numbers of thin lamination configurations in the I-Beam.

However the number of layers of wood to make up the I-Beam in the center of the riser, would be a very different thing than having multiple laminations on the outside of the slab on the riser side opposite the shelf.

In later years, in some instances, different lamination configurations were made in the same year and same model bows, perhaps the best known is the 1962 Kodiak made in solid wood, 60/40 and I-Beam constructions.

Again, those types of laminations would also be very different than your bow.

[Hobow]

Thank you all for the kind comments, it means a lot coming from you guys.

The acetone soaked rag sounds like a good idea and the type of solution that I was hoping to find.  I may try that on a Grizzly that I have.

I do appreciate the bows originality and I am unsure if I'll ever take the grip off, although the curiousity does get to me sometimes and makes me rethink my position on it...

Wade -

Thank you for the excellent example of things not always being what they appear.  

The "option for additional laminations" that I was referring to perhaps should've been worded differently on my part.  On another Traditional Collecting site there was some discussion about the '59 Kodiak bow that Fred is holding on a postcard of him and his Brown bear mount.  The discussion centers around the possibility of Fred's bow having a decorative inlay in the riser or not.

One of the participants said "I still think I've heard of the inlay option, however, but I don't know what may have been the configuration of the inlay.  Bear's Custom Shop did some pretty neat stuff".  No one confirmed or denied the existence of a custom shop with options like that.

In hindsight, I am trying to find out if a "Custom Shop" did exist and if so, could it be the reason for the additional, thin, suface laminations on my bow's riser?  

I have a lot to learn and although I try to do as much research as I can before I ask questions, it is difficult for a newbie to sort out fact from fiction.

Thank you all for your continued help!

Brad

[Wade Phillips]

Brad -

Years ago when I visited the Bear Museum a few times each year, I saw Fred's bow with the Bear image inlaid in the coin side of the riser. It is a very professional job and I'm certain was done by someone with some formal training and experience such as a gunsmith. I have handled the bow several times and somewhere a few computers ago, I have some photographs of it, taken with a digital camera about 12 or 15 years ago, so they are not the quality of today's digital photographs, even though the camera was very expensive at the time I bought it.  

The custom shop you speak of did work such as install rests, sights and quiver bushings. I only know of its existence long after 1957.

The type of laminations you have on your bow were simply added when the riser was glued up. There could be any number of logical explanations for the riser being glued up that way.