HELP!!!- Dilemma.I need your opinion

[johnnyrazorhead]

ceme24-That very same Beatles song popped into my mind when I first posted this thread.I guess that would be Paul McCartney's advice if I were to ask him what he would do.LOL
 Bill- That's a great idea too.I always did like the leather grips on the Kodiaks that came with them.Don't know if I could do a very good job putting one one myself,but I know a few guys that could so that is another option I hadn't thought of.Thanks for the suggestion.

[park]

maybe you could be the first to have an MRI done on a bow.that is the only way i can think of finding out without taking off the finish.I would leave it because it is factory paint and it looks awesome.

[stagetek]

I think it's going to drive you crazy, so you may as well just do it. I would. IMO there was nothing really attractive about the factory camo. But, the wood underneath...that's another story. Be sure to show us the results !!

[JavelinaHink]

John, If it were a solid phenolic riser wouldn't it be a lot heavier bow ?, you should be able to rule that out without touching the paint. I haven't weighed any of mine but they feel heavier.....myself I like the camo,     my earliest is Bob Meeker’s K-4 with compass in grip and 3 arrow quiver
What ever you do is right.    ..have a good weekend and holiday....Hink  :cool:

[johnnyrazorhead]

Boy- The opinions on stripping or not stripping are pretty equal.I read one post about why I shouldn't strip it and I agree,then I read another one why I SHOULD strip it and agree with that too.
 I know if I even strip a small portion of the paint,I am going to want to just finish the job and strip it all off.
 On the other hand,as much as I don't like camo covered bows,this little bugger is actually starting to grow on me.If the camo were even more worn and chipped in spots,or the bow had some holes drilled in it,it would be a whole lot easier for me to just go ahead and do it.Knowing this is the way it came out of Grayling makes it very hard for me to do it.I am still pondering all of the suggestions.Luckily I have still been working long hours so I haven't had time to even consider doing it even if I wanted to.Maybe that's a good thing.
 
 Bill- The bow doesn't feel unusually heavy and going by the small wear mark on the edge of the shelf,I do believe the riser is wood,I'm just curious as to the glass color now and if it is standard glass along with the wood,I would really be interested in knowing why it was camo covered at all.

[Cookus]

So... How did the bow turn out John?

[johnnyrazorhead]

Kenny,
 I actually got rid of the bow before I did anything to it.I was very tempted to remove the paint to see what lied beneath but I just couldn't bring myself to doing it.I knew once I even started removing any of the original factory camo paint then the bow would no longer be factory original.And I am not a bow-refinisher and didn't want to make a mess of a very nice,original Bear bow.It's that ridiculous collector mentality of mine.If the bow wasn't in such nice condition with most all of the factory camo intact as well as the hand written specs,leather arrow plate and rug rest,not to mention the perfect draw weight of 55#,I might have been more inclined to attempt removing it.But I figured if I did remove the paint and it was just a run o' the mill '62 Kodiak Magnum,then it's value would be less than if left alone.So I decided to part with it in it's original condition to fund some other items.
 When I saw this thread brought back to the top of the forum after so long I thought that perhaps the new owner decided to remove the paint and was showing off the rare,one-of-a-kind Kodiak Magnum that he un-covered.Ah well,maybe if he sees this thread and was brave enough to remove the paint he will tell(and show) all of us,myself included,what lurked beneath.Maybe it's a mate to Phillips black phenolic with brown glass 66/67 Kodiak.That would be just my luck!!!  

[oldbohntr]

You guys! They're just bows! Yeah, there might be another one like Philip's out there(I saw that bow and I'm damned envious!)  But, it wasn't a Magnum, and I've had those from every year up until about '75.  Never found one that I enjoyed shooting. (No offense to anyone who did.)  If I couldn't tell any other way, I'd strip a small spot on every camo'd magnum I could find.  If it told me something intriguing was under there, I'd go for it.  Life is short! Worst case, I'd do a little refinish and sell it to some local who wants a shooter!  But, that's just me.

[hayslope]

Ask yourself one simple question:  Is this a collector bow with value (subjective)?

I'm sure most would agree.......nothing significant there.  As value is truly subjective, especially in today's market, I would have never asked "the" question.........that ol' girl would have been stripped and, if the wood was pretty nice, already snapped a few photos with her clothes off!!!!

Besides.......Tom said it all in his post above!

Hope the new owner is happy with it (and has peeked under her dress!).

[stagetek]

Well, JRH, that was one way to solve the dilemma !

[Shane Reed]

anything special that could be hidden behind a factory camo 64 k mag?

[hayslope]

John's bow was a 61 or 62 KM.  The 61 of course was a first year model.  The 62 shared everything with the 61 KM except it had gray glass and brazilian rosewood.

Hard to say if anything "special" would be hidden under the camo of a 64 KM.  Nothing unique or special about the bow.....other than Fred noted that the 64 KM was the most important bow they ever built, but that comment was mostly related to previous "products" that didn't contribute to the financial stability of the company!

I've never seen a 64 KM that I would consider as having anything special about it, although if there is one out there that is unique, I'd bet that Al would have ended up with it at one point or the other.

[vintage-bears]

Hey all,
Here's the bow as I bought it.
Almost impossible not to move forward after seeing the riser and brown glass. A no brainer really. It was crystal clear that this was a very special bow.

   

   

   

   

I want this bow to be in another collectors hands someday that DISPLAYS bows and shares their history. The bow deserves to be seen and not tucked away.
I installed an original Bear rug rest and vintage strike plate. The bow is as built in 1966/67.
.......Philip

[Shane Reed]

Maybe I will be so lucky to drive down to Brooklyn and buy it from you some day Philip. Uhhh scratch that driving in Brooklyn, I would meet somewhere on the outskirts. ;o)

[shibang]

Could you check under the leather; if you didn't like what you saw - easy fix ?