Grant – You ask some great questions and bring up some interesting points.
I would like to talk about the different weights you mentioned for Fred Elephant bow, not from any first hand knowledge of the bow, but rather as a possible or partial explanation of how numbers sometimes are not consistent. How could anyone remember the exact weight to the pound of every bow they owned and shot, especially Fred Bear who had dozens of personal bows in his lifetime. With Fred’s special customized shelf, does any believe that his customized bows were made and remade or altered until the exact weight to the pound was achieved every time. Maybe that was the goal, but were all bows weighted in precisely the same scientific manner from bow to bow to bow, on the same scale by the same person every time? There may be a bit of wiggle room for a pound or two here just for human error and differences.
When many people are asked questions, hours later, not to mention years later, they do not remember the precise details. I can site dozens of examples of manufacturers telling me they did not make a specific item, but when I hand them an example or an advertisement for what they just said they never made, they quickly “remember” and change their story. Most old bowmen are happy to talk with you about the old days. If you ask them a question in a manner to lead them to a specific answer they may respond more to please you, rather than to tax their own memory to find an answer that may be conflicting, or disappoint you with the more accurate response “I can not remember”. I know first hand that many people have been misquoted in print. I don’t know of any human who has ever typed numbers, who claims they have never typed an incorrect number key.
The 72# vs 70# vs 75# may be a mystery to you that you will never solve. Frankly, I hope you do solve it, but without written evidence from the era as to why there is a discrepancy, speculation by some may be more incorrect than the 2, 3 or 5# difference. In seeing your thorough approach to things, I’m certain you will gain more insight. I’m sorry I could not be of any specific help.
Perhaps someday you will be able to actually weigh the bow yourself, and solve the mystery.
An interesting note about typing mistakes, as they relate to Fred…. I have a few of Fred’s personally typed notes to his dear friend, and later fellow Archery Hall of Fame Member, Floyd Eccleston of Michigan. The notes are very short and of course they were typed on an old style typewriter. Fred made several typing mistakes on these notes. I’ve often wondered why Fred did not simply write the notes longhand. In the case of these notes, when the reader goes to a keyboard it is easy to see how Fred misplaced his finger, and put the correct letter in each of the misspelled words… Do you remember what it was like before spell check ???
Topic: Fred Bear 1940s Take Down – Original Snake Skin Back (Read 2288 times)
