It is a Deerslayer but is it a Grumley?

[Wade Phillips]

Larry -

There were a few employees working on bows during the Transition Period. At the point when Grumley left, Meaker took over Grumley's position as the head bowyer at Bear Archery.

As you can see from the photograph of the 14 bows, the term Transition Bow is a very broad term used to describe a variety of differently constructed bows as the evolution to the Grizzly progressed.

As luck (or the Bow Gods) might have it, I was truly more than fortunate to acquire most of Meaker's personal bows. His bows filled in many gaps in what is perhaps the most confusing puzzle and least known era of Bear Bows, the period from Grumley to Meaker to the Grizzly. After studying many of these bows over the past few decades, it is pretty easy to see the differences in Grumley's work vs Meaker's work, that is when I have the bow in my hands, but not always so easy to pick up nor illustrate those differences in photographs.

It seems that people need to label things so for the sake of simplicity in explaining the collection to the general public at a show, I usually don't get into the detail of the Transition bows as most people quickly get that blank stare on their faces as they reach that point of information overload. At that point, you know they are lost.

[Wade Phillips]

Originally posted by the real bowdoc:
my god those are beautiful ... there not bows at all but fine peaces of art work.Wade I still can not figure out that darn backing this one it gots me stumped big time.You may be right it may be unborn calf skin.The grainy look looks kind of like brush strokes inthe varnish bd

Doc -

Just send me the bow and I will figure it out for you....

It may take 10 or 20 years, but I will get it figured out and return the bow to you.

[Bjorn]

I wonder how many bowyers worked for Grumley or Meaker at any given time? Did Meaker sign any of his work like Grumley did?
Just to make the bows that Grumley signed there had to have been a lot of process involved-grinding lams, steaming and bending,
glueing, prepping, leather and on and on.
How much of the bow did Grumley actually make?

[Wade Phillips]

In the 1930s and early 40s Grumley was the only Bowyer at Bear and made everything himself. As the bow business grew more employees were hired.

Have only ever seen one bow that Meaker signed like Grumley did. Remember, Meaker took over as the transition was in process and the Water Transfer Decal was replacing signatures.

[d. ward]

oh yeah Bjorn Nelly was the master and as Wade mentioned yes he did everything himself.I never had the pleasure of seeing Nelly build a bow.However I have had the pleasure of watching Jay and pappy build bows most of my adulty life.I seen lots of Jays triple lamination bows aka Grum wantta-be's for 10 years when Troy worked there.
Dude I'am tellen ya when them guy's get on a roll building bows they are hard to stop.He would get 10-12 triple lams glued up then 10-12 bows half finished then 10-12 bows very near finished.Jay would have 4-6 bows going all at once in different stages sometimes.And Nelly being the true master he was ? chit I bet Nelly would do at least 6 a day no problemo(remember in the off season we do not sell lots of hunting bows)and Nelly did'nt build target bows.....
hey you gay's I had another old time collecter stop at my place over the weekend.What a pain in the ass this guy is to have stop bye your home but what the hell I love him dearly he's an old time bow collecter.He was using his eye's make out with the Grum td though I caught em in the act.He was doubley pissed at me for listing it.I almost had to pound the old fart to shut him up.But anywho Wade he says unborn calf skin backing(and I hate this chit but I had to agree with him or pound his old ass in my driveway) but thats really what he thinks it is is calf hide made into like rawhide (not with Clint in it Rawhide) but thin rawhide ? whats your thoughts homie's ???? Man I am 2 minutes late right now for my duties.As that mother Arnie once siad I'll be back bd PS reread this now 8 minutes late I'am so dead later home'boys

[Wade Phillips]

Doc - Sort of a little known fact but Grumley actually did make target bows real early on in the days of "Bear Products by Grumley". I have several of them.

Rarest would be the only example that I have ever seen of a "Bear Products by Grumley" Straight End SOLID YEW with HORN NOCKS.

Your old pal may be correct in that the backing is unborn calf skin. The terms unborn calf skin, clarified calfskin and rawhide are interchangeable for many people.

Asking several people for a precise definition of each of those three terms always seems to result in a variety of definations.

[d. ward]

I'am bleeding I'am bleeding bad right now from the heart.There's a huge hole in it this morning and its very painful.Its painful to see Nelly nearing the end of his stay at my place ... good bye old friend and may your new life and home be better and richer for you.May you NOT live in your case hidden behind a book shelf again but displayed somewhere for your true beauty.Good bye old friend I love you man.
I never inherited any of this from my father I'am just keeping an eye on it for my childern bd

[d. ward]

take a look at the Grumley auction on eb the dumb ass spelled Grumley with no R its a Gumley take down for auction.Holy smokes Wade are those rarer then the actual Grumley take downs ? OK OK so I was a bit rattled about selling Nelly what can I say...... right about now my old man would say something like you better let that pipe come down boy bd

[shick]

Doc, you know you can 'lean on me'.  Let's get ready for the next project.
Denny

[vintage-bears]

I've been reading and looking at the amazing pictures and I realized now that I never contributed to the topic.

Congratulations Bjorn! What a sweet bow.

..........philip

[Bjorn]

Well Doc you did pretty good with that gorgeous Grumley-**** scrambling id's these days it is sometimes hard to tell who won the auction-but in this case we know, don't we.  Congratulations winner!        

[SportHunter]

Beautiful bow Bjorn, great condition. I always like seeing the rare Grumley style bows that come out of old collections every year.

[Larry m]

WOW bd, Not a bad take for that Beautiful piece of History! Looks like you had some serious bidding going on and *** waited to the end and pounced. Wonder if that is someone here? A serious collector for sure and a nice addition to their collection.

[d. ward]

wow all I can say is my pardner in the Grum and his family .... no job and 3 small children will certinly have a better holiday season this year.BD will have a small slice of the pie for himself which will bennifit his cash flow a little and allow him to RTW asap.Now this is where the real bowdoc always says something like hell yeah.And sometime when I got time I will tell ya'all the tail of 2 bows that changed my life.Think a wooden self bow can not change your life ? bd

[Jacquesbonin]

Bjorn can you tell me what lengths the deerslayer came in and how heavy could they be made? I love the look of the deerslayer and understand that they had more hand shock because of the heavier static tip, but that wouldn't stop me from getting one or making something similar. Just a great looking bow from the past!
 Thanks for any light you can shed on the subject! Jacques

[Bjorn]

Jacques the Deerslayer was a 62" bow that came 35-75#. I think the handshock would vary from bow to bow due to the hand tillering and might overall be similar to a 62" Grizzly that came along 2 years later. I have not strung or shot the Deerslayer, but I can tell you the original Grizzlies and Kodiaks were very pleasant to shoot with the appropriate arrow.