ALL aluminum bow. Has anyone ever seen one?

[WhitetailHtr]

I have a recurve of my dad's from the late 50's - early 60's.

It is technically a three piece recurve BUT all parts are 100% aluminum. I mean ALL aluminum.

Green in color 38# @ 28".  I think 58" length.

There is a shelf on either side of the riser, and the limbs look like a narrow leaf of spring steel, but they are aluminum. The tips of the limbs come to a pretty severe point.  Like if you tried to use a bow stringer they would tear right through the pockets. The handle section is longbow style, wrapped in leather.

No name or anything else.  Anyone ever seen one of these?

He actually kill a deer with it.

I have seen one at Earl Bateman's house. He has quite a collection of vintage bows!

Bisch

[Terry Lightle]

There are quite a few still around

[Sam McMichael]

I have heard they had a high failure rate, making them potentially dangerous.

Originally posted by Sam McMichael:
I have heard they had a high failure rate, making them potentially dangerous.

Earl told me that was why they quit making them out of aluminum.

Bisch

[FlintNSteel]

My father had one too.  He gave it to my brother who had it stolen from his car.  He had a rag-top and they cut the top open and stole the bow.

All I remember about it is it was stiff as could be...stacked like crazy.

[Dave Worden]

There were a couple of bropthers made them at the Oakland County Airport in Waterford, MI way back when.  I forgot their last name.  They are quite collectible and very dangerous to shoot.  The aluminum work hardens over time and they become brittle and snap.  Great bow for a collector, lousy bow for a shooter.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

My dad has two.  seems odd looking at a metal bow after being so used to wood and fiberglass.

[Jon Stewart]

There were several made back in the 40's and 50's.
Ivanhoe (wood riser), Grimes, Par X and Seefab to name a few.  Yours sounds like a Par X but you would have to post a photo for the experts to look at it.

[Mark Baker]

My Dad had one, and gave it to me as a kid to shoot, in the mid-sixties....

It was 45 pounds, and I was told it was dangerous to shoot, but we (my brother and I) shot it anyway.  At our draw length then it was probably not an issue.  

It looked just as you described....I mostly remember the welts on my arm because I never had a decent armguard at the time, and I shot it every chance I got.  I thought the bow was a bit earlier vintage...maybe late 40's to early 50's, as it was my Dad's bow as a kid.  I could be wrong though.

[Jon Stewart]

There is another metal bow out there that the limbs were made on a spiral. Dangest thing I ever saw.  I looked thru my some of my old 50's and 60's Archery magazine but I couldn't find it.

Some believe in metal fatigue and some don't. I have a very nice Bear with an aluminum lamination in the limbs that I won't shoot based on failure talk.

[Duker]

My uncle had one,some time back in the 50's.I thought it was a 1 piece,silver in color,with a black handle.At that time I could hardly pull it back.  

[elk nailer]

I have an Ivanhoe. Had two sold one.

[frank bullitt]

A fine man and bow hunter from Clinton Indiana, Ed Pitchkites. Ed shot his first deer back in the 50's with one. A Par-x bow!

He wrote about it in his book "60 years with the feathered shaft".