Indian Archery Deerslayer

[shag08]

Hey guys. My buddy has been up in Michigan working all year. He called me about 4 or 5 months ago and told me about an old recurve he found for 25 bucks. He doesn't shoot bows or hunt...he just knows I like old bows. He didn't know any info but I told him to buy it.

I had actually forgot all about it til yesterday. He was coming back home and told me he had the bow. I went by there today just to hang out and have a beer since we haven't seen each other in forever.

The bow turned out to be an Indian Archery Deerslayer, 60" 45# er. It has the "Indian brave" strike plate still on it. It had some kinda cheap stick on camo on the back of the limbs.

I paid him the 25 for it and pulled all the camo sticky off of it. The glass is in really good shape on the back...minor stress cracks at the fade outs running vertical. The finish on the riser and the belly is a little rough looking but nothing fatal to the bow.

Both limbs have a slight twist that I noticed when I strung it up after I got it home and found a string for it. But I worked at them a little bit and nearly got them worked out. I'm gonna leave it strung for a day or two and keep pulling them in the right direction.

I couldn't resist shooting it a few times. The old girl is pretty impressive. Shoots where I'm looking and it's pretty quick for a 45# er.

The worst part on the bow is the tips. It has wood tip overlays and they are cracked and pretty dry looking. I'm thinking about doing a refinish on it. I did one on a Pearson Razorback a few months ago that came out very nicely.

I'm very familiar with the 101 thread. But I'm nervous about removing tips and replacing them. Any good advice or pics/info would be greatly appreciated. I think I'd like to go back with some kind of hardwood overlays. Thanks guys!

[warpedarrow]

Tips are not hard to do but they take quite a bit of time.  You really don't want to use power tools once they are on the bow because a little slip up will mar the glass.  I have started pre shaping the bevels on the overlays with a sander prior to gluing them to the bow.  I have always used the resin type (fiberglass?) micarta for the overlays and it is pretty hard stuff.  This saves a lot of time because you can get crazy with your sander or grinder and not worry about ruining anything other than an overlay. I carefully trim them just a bit large with a Dremel tool and cut off wheel after the glue is set.  Yeah, I know, you don't want to use power tools once they are on the bow.  Do as I say, not as I do.  Then I go to work with my little file set and start shaping.  Once it is close I start sanding with 120 grit and then finish with 400.  The last thing that I do is to use a chainsaw file to cut the string grooves following the established grooves on the bow.  It probably takes me an hour total time to preshape and glue on the overlays.  If there are three layers it will take three days as I put on one layer and let the glue cure then come back the next day and add a layer.  I may spend a hour or more per tip when it comes time to shape the overlay and cut the grooves.  

Bowdoc did a pretty good write up on replacing tips in his 101 thread.  I wish that he would drop in every now and again as he has a wealth of knowledge about repairing old bows.

[shag08]

Good info there. Thanks, Bradley!