modifying 70's Kodiak Hunter

[Oregon Okie]

Hi all,
I'm looking at a left handed Kodiak Hunter - some 70's year but not exactly sure and don't have the serial right now.
My question is this. If I get it, I want to modify the grip as I've seen done on here. Am I right that this is not an extremely collectable bow...yet so doing that for my purposes won't be destroying a bow that should be left alone?
thanks for input.

[kurtbel5]

70's bear, Go for it,I don't have the guts yet, but really want to.Please take pictures
             Kurt

[Blackhawk]

Of the vast number of Bear bows on Eb@y, the two most common are the Kodiak Hunter and Kodiak Magnum.  That Hunter is a great candidate for a grip makeover.

[Oregon Okie]

Thanks guys. now I have to go see if the guy sold it yet. And then get the nerve up like you said Kurt

[kurtbel5]

Okie
  Have you thought about which way you would do it?  I have seen 2 styles, one like Papa Bear's radius the same, just raise the grip,or I saw a couple of bows that look like they just intersected two lines making a kinda triangle with the arrow resting on the highest point (low budget look,IMO).
  If I saw a how to (Don, Rich, Hint, Hint) I would probably go with Papa Bear's style, but am unsure of where to remove wood 1st.
  Let us know if you do it (before and after pic's)
          Kurt Bel5

[Oregon Okie]

If I get the bow and the nerve to start messing with it I would do it like this.  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=059399;p=1#000004
Don't know if pasting that works.
If not, it's basically radius the shelf and leave it at the same height. Remove wood to move the hand up instead of shelf down.   Sounds like Papa Bear's way you describe. I'll go look for that.

Here's another question? It's the green wood. Is that a stain that I can match? hmmmm. Don't want it looking bad when I'm done.

[d. ward]

Wow nice pic....I have the original B handle in the above pic done if you would like to take a look????..One thing I would like to mention is I did not lower the shelf on the original B handle hardly at all...I moved the grip up a little and yes a little off the shelf,not much and more of a radius.Without getting into how the bow works..Freds shelf was almost flat...but again it was cut off the bow rather then really low.If you lower the shelf to much,you are also thining the grip area between your thumb and index finger...If you get a little carried away,you can thin that area to much and on a heavier draw weight bow could cause problems(maybe,maybe not)...The green future-wood is impregnated with epoxy,rather then a surface stain...the color goes all the way into the riser...even sanding will rarely if at all remove any color....most of the time it gets greener as it is now exposed to the air...But one thing I would say,If the work is well done..I don't see how it would hurt your bow in anyway...even value as if you want to sell the bow at some point..I'am sure there will be another shooter like yourself whom will think the bow fits him better...hence makeing the sale price good...I will get a couple pics of the original B risers asap..........bowdoc

[d. ward]

the shelf...........bowdoc

[d. ward]

strike plate also certerd.....bowdoc

[d. ward]

edge view...bowdoc

[Oregon Okie]

That's another consideration..It's a 60# bow so don't want to lose too much wood in there. Thanks for the pics and knowledge.

[johnnyrazorhead]

That's a great idea,I've thought of doing it myself to one of my bows.Unfortunately I like to shoot Kodiaks and the type I Grayling take-down bows.I've seen Fred's riser and how his shelf was cut so the arrow sat right on his hand and would like to try it on one of my handles but I just can't bring myself to altering a near mint,original take-down riser.It would most likely improve my accuracy but I'm just not there yet.I actually talked to the guy that worked on Fred's bows and he told me how concerned he was that Fred wanted to take too much wood out of that area of the grip and told him so,but Fred basically told him "never mind,it will be fine".He said Fred knew what he wanted and his handles never broke.And he shot pretty heavy limbs.Guess Fred was pretty smart when it came to his bow.

[d. ward]

The riser in the pics is very near mint and was all original a few days a go.....but for my customer it did not shoot well with the original shelf height.That is his personal shooter and he whats it to be a little more confortable in the throat of the grip...I've actually reworked about all of my personal shooters.The shelf is really not lowerd so much...as I just opened the grip throat area up a little more.That alows your hand to fit up a little higher on the grip..I figure if they fit my hand a little better sure could not hurt my shooting.bowdoc