57 bear cub brace height?

[hs6181]

I've got an old one, 1956 or 57 at 52#s. I've been shooting it alot lately and it shoots pretty good but is ugly as he!!. Due to having to get rid of most of my equipment, I'm thinking about hunting with it again but I cant hardly stand to look at it. I was wondering if it was worth the trouble to pretty it up some. Its nice and straight, real good tips but the tiller is off, the upper limb has about 1/2" more than the bottom.

Every cub I've seen with the dual shelf has been like that, is that how they were made by bear or is the design prone to bad tiller?

Is there any good way to remove the rest and grip with tearing it up and does anyone make a replacement rest like the original?

what should I use to clean and seal the cracks in the fiberglass on the back of the bow?

Any info or advice would be much appreciated

[kodmag1]

Harold,
   I just finished a re-finish on an older double shelf Bear Cub.  I removed the leather grip and rest, sanded the entire bow down with 200 grit paper and followed that with 0000 steel wool.  I then added 4 coats of MinWax wipe on polyurethane. I purchased a replacement grip, side plate, and bear hair rest along with Cub decals from 3 Rivers Archery.  Bow looks almost new.
Chris

[hs6181]

Chris,

Does your bow have the same tiller I mention above, about 3/8 to 1/2 more on the upper limb?

Mine also has the stress cracks running most of the length of both limbs, I've read thats common on the older bows and they dont seem to effect the shooting.

[kodmag1]

Mine has the stress cracks and it doesn't affect the bow at all.  The MinWax helps to hide them a little.  As for the tiller, yes it is a little out of wack.  Not sure what to attribute it to but it shoots fine.  Mine is 58#.  Strikes me as strange being such high poundage and it is a Cub.

[hs6181]

Thanks for the info, I reckon I'll get started on this one. I've seen quite a few cubs in the 50#+ range lately, saw one on ebay at 64#s. I've had surgery on both shoulders so 52#s plenty enough for me.

[raghorn]

Before you sand the bow run some VersaMend epoxy or superglue into the stress cracks. If you warm the epoxy in a pan of hot water it will become thinner. Warm the bow also under a lamp, it will help to draw the glue into the crack. If you try to fill these cracks after sanding, the cracks become filled with dust that you cannot remove.
Very carefully scrape the finish off close to the decals (leave finish on the top of the decal)and then sand the decal lightly with steel wool to blend the decal edges down. This way you can maintain the original decal.
I use a scraper(old straight bladed knife) to remove the old finish. I remove it completely for the wood and glass. Since the Cub is a maple riser you probably won't need a filler for the pores.

[hs6181]

Ron
I was hoping there was something I could do with the cracks. They dont effect it in anyway I can tell but it makes me feel more comfortable about shooting a 47 year old bow.

Mike
yea it has the black glass, it would look better, you can see some fading in the color.

Thanks everybody for your help

[hs6181]

anyone know what the brace height should be for this old cub? Ive got it at 7 1/4 right now, I had to twist the string down to 56 1/4" to do it. does that sound right for a 62" longbow or semi-recurve? I read that the max draw length for these bows is 28" so I dont want to put a short string on it and bust a limb.

I've cleaned it up but havent tried to put anything on the stress cracks yet, they are so tight I dont know if anything will penetrate into them.
Thanks

[SCATTERSHOT]

I have an old double shelf Cub, and I shoot it at 6 1/2" brace. So far, so good. Mine has the odd tiller you describe. Seems to shoot OK, though.