Advice on Tamerlane

[nchunter]

I've been wanting a classic target recurve for a while, and last weekend I bought a 1963 Bear Tamerlane at a local shoot.  It's a great shooting bow, and it's in excellent shape EXCEPT that some FOOL sometime over the last couple of decades apparently decided he wanted a centercut bow and hogged out about an 1/8 inch off the riser above the strike plate!

Functionally it doesn't hurt the bow (it's only 38 lbs draw), but as you can see from the photo below, the riser now looks "two-toned" where the yellowed finish/wood was removed.

 

I'm considering:
a) doing nothing and living with it as is.
b) sanding and refinishing just the riser and not the limbs
c) sanding and refinishing the whole bow

The finish on the limbs is quite yellow - much more yellow than the photo.  My problem with refinishing the limbs though is I don't want to lose the cool Tamerlane decal.  I could sand around it, but then the limbs would finish pearly white with a yellow splotch where the decal is.

What would you do?

[nchunter]

I don't know for certain if it's a '63 but from what I was able to glean from the web they made Tamerlanes from 1963-1968, and started putting that adjustable sight thingy on them in 1964, which this does not have.  Of course the moron that modified the riser may well have removed that sight in the process.  However, my understanding is that in 1965 the first number of the serial numbers begins with the year it was manufacturered.

The serial number is 12BX17 if that tells anyone anything.  I think it tells me that it couldn't be any newer than 1964.

[Wade Phillips]

I would go with option B if you can cut the 1/8" off clean and flat on the sight window... if not its best to let a professional do it.

[seboomook]

Jack, 63 was 1st year. The '64 was routed for the brown metal strike plate with brush rest.
Not sure if the lengths were the same.

[Wade Phillips]

1963 Lengths, 66" and 69"
1964 Lengths, 63", 66" and 69"

[Wade Phillips]

True

1963 standard Tamerlane sight window was not routed...

1964 standard Tamerlane sight window was routed & had a decorative plate...

However, in 1964 you could special order any Tamerlane without the sight routed and a decorative plate.

[Blackhawk]

It is my understanding that the Tamerlane came out in 1963 (I've read that Bear planned to introduce it in 1962 but delayed that) and was only made in 66" and 69" that first year.  

Other lengths...like the 63" came out in 1964.  If your bow is a 66"/69", it may be tough to determine the year.  If another length, then it's a 1964 since the next few years were numbered to identify the year.

[nchunter]

It's a 66-incher.  Here's a photo of the writing on the riser:

 

[PAPALAPIN]

OK...as long as I have been at this, I can still learn something every day.

From what I read here, bith the '63 and '64 had that same style riser.  With the butcher block roswood caps.

Your bow has ssome very interesting grain to it.  Another thing is I have seen many of these that have the blocks in the cap with cracks in them.  This one semms to be pretty clean

Nice bow

[Wade Phillips]

Originally posted by Wade Phillips:
I would go with option B if you can cut the 1/8" off clean and flat on the sight window... if not its best to let a professional do it.

Boy, after seeing how great that handle and the lower half of the riser look, I would hate to destroy it by refinishing the entire riser as it will be much darker if refinished.

Think, I'd reconsider and first try to just get the surface of the sight window back to flat and then just refinish only the flat of the sight window.

I've refinished just the sight window on a several old Bear bows, and they have turned out pretty respectable. And I'm sure no professional, but think refinishing one section of a riser like the sight window, is easy compared to an entire riser or entire bow.

[Larry m]

As pretty as that riser is I would have someone who knows what there doing do the work. I have one just like it only 40# and its a very sweet shooter. That will be a very nice bow when repaired and set up to shoot.

[Wade Phillips]

Joe -

These are five 1960 Kodiak Specials. Parts of some of these risers have been refinished...

Who can describe which parts of which risers are refinished... ???

What work was done by an amateur and what was done by a professional... ???

   


Another photograph of the same five bows with the flash...

   

[AALLFAB]

Hart to tell not in hand but just for fun. Bottom one all pro. next up riser grip non pro. middle sight window non pro. top two look pretty original but very top may be full riser non pro. jim

[PAPALAPIN]

Dang Wade

Ya post pictures like that and now I am worried about shorting out my keyboard from drooling all over it.

[Larry m]

WOW Wade, You got the GOODS. It always puts things in perspective!!   I have masked off parts of sight windows and done minor repairs and fine sanding to blend in but my problem begins with the finishing. The high gloss for me is difficult to come by if you do not have access to a spray gun. Someone used Gloss Minwax Poly wiped on with a lintless cloth. Multiple coats and fine sanded in between. Any Thoughts or how did you do the work and get such nice results?

[Wade Phillips]

Jim - You have a good eye. You got two correct, which is pretty darn good.

Still sort of illustrates it might be possible to do some touch up work on a single section and it might not be easy to see from a few feet away.

Jack -  Don't electrocute yourself! These photographs sort of illustrate why is is hard for me to very high on phenolic. However, like nearly everyone, I do have a little of it.

Larry - The 1959 and 1960 Kodiak Specials are probably some of the easiest Bear risers to touch up or partially refinish. They have so many different types and colors of wood and so many seams in the wood that a little different color sort of gets lost when you are looking at the whole bow. Key is to find the right seam in the wood or the break to blend in the refinish. That Tamerlane may be a little trickier (on the back side of the sight window)than these Specials.

I generally use very light coats of True Oil and lots of dry time. Lightly sand between coats when needed and on the last few coats, blend in the surfaces to the proper gloss. I remember re-doing one of these risers three times before I got it to where it is in this photograph. Seems that's generally always been the price of an education for me with nearly everything.

I'm sure there much better, faster and more efficient methods than mine that would yield better results.

[Wade Phillips]

This is one of Glenn St. Charles' 1953 Thunderbirds. It is #202. When I got it a year ago, someone had cut up the sight window even worse than your Tamerlane. It was actaully whittled up and looked like they used a dull pocket knife to cut it down. It was a real mess. I used a double cut file to get the surface flat, then sanded it a bit and used several coats of True-Oil to refinish just the sight window. Looks much better than when I got it...

Everything below the shelf is still like when I got it except I removed some tape below the numbers and some finish is missing in that area. Didn't want to fool with the area around the numbers.

       


Below is what this little diamond in the rough looked like before the Rescue Mission began....

     

[Warberg]

WOW, Thanks for the wood. Wonderfull Bows. Thanks Much.

[Ssamac]

I bet that he didn't " hogged out about an 1/8 inch off the riser above the strike plate!"

I have a Patriot (Hi Jack) with the Bear sight and I bet he removed the site and leveled off the riser to hide the section which was routed out. that would be about 1/8" looking at my bow.

Of course, he could have just removed the peep and shot it as is. Nice bow. Too bad. Just refinish the riser if you have to. My limbs have yellowed to an ivory hue and look nice

Sam

sam