All I KNOW is it's NOT a Bear, Also not usable.

[SlowBowke]

Just too cool and too old for this old fart to let is slip by.

One piece solid, curly(fiddleback to us here) maple riser. Green and green glass. Back is woven glass. Semi recurve.

Listed as a 64 inch but string length was measured to be 63 inch by the seller...sooooo...66ish length or so.

Particular interest to me was the wrapped leather grip with "cord" around the top border with a fairly radical palm swell for a leather grip, at least I thought

ONLY markings on it were O T and 42 (weight) stamped into the wood on the back side of the riser top, no color in the stamping.

Anyone have or have had a similar bow and have some clue as to mfg?

God Bless, as always
Steve

Hoping these are not too big?

   

 

[oldbohntr]

I don't know, but I'm really envious!  That is a very nice bow!  Does that black accent lam extend beyond the fadeout?

[SlowBowke]

Not real sure. Not in hand yet but......I thought that line might be green? Looking again, I'm not so sure. Quick eye there, oldbo.

I was looking for something lonnnnnnnnnger than my Hornet. Something different. "Only kid on the block with one" type bow.  
This one stood out......to me anyway.
Fadeout photo.

 


  [God Bless!

[SlowBowke]

Don't know if I could stand to do it but I keep thinking what that curly maple would look like if one stripped it down and stained it before refinishing.

Daaaaaaaaaang!      

Knowing me, as is, is "purty" enough but the thought keeps spinning into my head! Stained it would look like some jungle cat!

 

I'd have to name it "Tigger" lol (Winnie the Poo one.......not Tiger......too light weight   :D  , snicker)

God Bless

[Gila Mike]

I saw that one and the curly maple sure caught my eye. I wondered if it might be one of Ernie Root's earlier bows?

Looking at the arrow sideplate and the grip, I guessed that the bow might have been refinished at some time.

When you get it, please post some closeup photos of the tips and the stamped imprint in the upper riser. Sometimes those can be good clues.

Mike

[Stinger]

A thought for you - staining maple, at least hard rock maple is an iffy proposition at best.  It is so dense that it won't take a stain evenly and the end result usually looks like a blotchy mess.  I'm not sure if the curly maple will do the same thing though.  You could try an aniline dye instead of stain to get more even coverage.

[SlowBowke]

I had thougths of it being one of Ernies but was out of the norm from what Ive seen is all. Refinish could easily be it.

 

 

[SlowBowke]

It shipped out today. Hoping for saturday and one of my few weekends off work.
             

[wadde]

It looks somewhat like a Cravotta Bros. bow.

[Bill Sant]

Looks like a Herters.  From the lines in the lams to the OT stamp in the riser, to the woven glass, to the fiddleback wood.  Could be wrong but I have it's twin at the cabin and mine still has the sticker.

[oldbohntr]

Bill, that’s it!  I feel foolish because I’ve had a similar one on the wall for years.  I think there’s no doubt his has been refinished, arrow rest reshaped,and regripped.  Your ID as a Herters got me to look mine over and dig my catalogs out of the storage room.   Slowbowke’s is shown in the '59 through '61 catalogs as the “Herters Official Olympian Tournament Laminated Composite Wood and Glass bow”.   Backing is black and facing is Desert sand, supposed to be birds-eye maple riser.   Offered in 35-70# weights, only in 68-1/4”, Rt or LH.   Price was $24.50.  
Or…. it could be the  “Herter’s Olympian Official Mark V Laminated Composite Wood and Glass Bow. “ The lengthy descriptions don’t really day what the real differences were, except the Mk V was 68-7/8” long(??)    The glass colors are the same, but it doesn’t say which color is on which side.    The unstrung limb profile is different in their pictures.  The Tournament looks to have slightly more deflex.   $28.50
Or…it could be the “Herter’s Model Professional 12 degree CV Laminated Composite Wood and Glass Bow”, which was shown as 65-5/8” long, with black backing & sand belly.   Again a different limb profile.  $30.50.
Mine is the hunting model that’s otherwise pretty much the same bow, except it’s 62-1/2”, with a 1959 serial number, and has the limb profile of the “…..Mk II yada yada….”   $22.50
Slow’s bow is obviously not birds-eye, and every one of these is supposed to be.   And his glass colors are reversed….so are mine. I suppose that could be a different year or something…..these catalogs are really confusing!    SomewhereI have some more catalogs from that era, but at this instant, I don’t have catalogs from the adjacent years to these.
   
I’ll post some pics of mine in a later post.

[oldbohntr]

 

 

 

Sorry-poor light for pics today.

[SlowBowke]

Interesting. Im sure there were but Ive never seen early enough herters bows to have woven glass, or any Herters that wasnt a major full blown recurve, not a semi curve. I'd never have guessed that from those Ive had from later years.

Ill have to keep and eye out for green/green glass herters and also measure the belly length on it to get a close length.

If so, someone did a bang up great job on it IMHO.

Should be an interestng shooter for me.

thanks guys
God Bless

[oldbohntr]

Your's is so pretty. I'm gonna claim that's why it fooled me...these early Herters usually had pretty sloppy finishes.  

Say, does anybody out there know who made these bows for Herters? Years ago, I used to have a name and it seems like it was someone in MN, or nearby, but I never heard of that bowyer in any other context.  Some of them were darn nice shooters, and he made a lot of them.....a huge amount of tropical hardwoods used in the process.   Somebody please remind me who it was!

[mahantango]

Bob Barrie of Rocky Mountain Razorhead fame made alot of bows for Herters.

[SlowBowke]

More and closer photos. Still unsure on the Herters thing.

Belly glass goes clear to grip on top part of the riser but Ive not seen Herters old enough to have woven glass either.

Does have woven glass, both sides.
A little surprised at the MASS of the riser. SMALLEST circumference of the throat of the grip is 5 3/4 inches.

Leather is a full 5 inches top to bottom.

Counting back and belly glass there are 6 laminations. Green accent "stripe" is one of em, full length, except for grip area. Wood grain is a bit better than I had thought too and fairly consistant throughout the riser.

Tips arent very big but not dinky. Pretty strong limb taper to the tips. 68 inches by my belly measurements.

Just info.  Biggest surprise was the over all weight of this bow. Long for sure but about double the weight in mass of my Hornet.

     

     

     

     

     

Different for sure, I think, anyway.
See if I ever see another close I guess. Not really an issue.

STring it came with is obviously WAY short...drat LOL

God Bless

[Dave Bulla]

Boy, that's a tough one.  I was thinking Root when I first saw it until I saw the pic's of the tips.  The early Root bows I've seen (have two with woven glass on the wall) both have very petite tips.  The part past the nock grooves is about the size of a pinto bean.

As for being a Herters... not sure about them having woven glass or not.  The accent stripe looks a lot like the one somebody else posted but that don't mean much.  

I'm also of the opinion that a previous owner probably reshaped the grip and did the wrap himself.  That's just from looking at the shape of the grip and the variations in the width of the leather wrap.  Not quite a typical grip shape.  Looks to me like someone took a rasp to it and customized it to fit their hand.  That's certainly not a bad thing but it makes ID'ing it more difficult.  An old friend of mine told me that back when he was a kid, whenever anybody he knew bought a bow, the first thing they did was break out a rasp and some sand paper until they got the shape where they liked it.  That's just the way it was.

One other name I'll throw out there simply due to the color of the glass is Indian.  Seen a bunch of them with that color glass but can't recall if they had the colored lam or not.

[SlowBowke]

I agree on the grip and it's killing me not to unwind that and take a good look but want to shoot it awhile before any changes would be made.

If the grip was overall the size of the lower section, I would have done the same. Even NOW it is absolutely huge feeling, but very comfortable.

The sight window is not flat like most early ones (that Ive seen anyway) but slightly convex until it gets to the bottom 1.5-2 inches above the shelf and it appears the 1/8 inch convex was removed (hard for me to think that was original)but it certainly was by someone who had worked with wood. Actually you can SEE this in the last photo where the flash reflected off the flatter part and makes it easier to distinguish than in normal light.

The rest (old rug type) itself is totally flat (another perfect Trap Feather Rest contestant!)and quite DEEP with the additional wood removed and is very close to centershot yet there is SO much wood left.

I'll whang around with it after I get a string and a feather rest (Hello? Trap? You there? You have GREEN ones? lol) It is obviously not so "collectable" (aka dont have diddly in it)but indeed, the history/design has me curious.

I have ideas that it may become a winter project.......if I can wait that long. lol

Probably hunt most with my Hornet but this long, heavy beast should be fun. Rather disgruntled that I have to wait for a string! I dont think Ive shot a 68 inch recurve since....uhh...ever? I think my 66 inch Pinto was my longest when in high school and dont think Ive had another that long since.

Yep, the woven glass dates it pretty much mid - early 50s but it is less a "semi-recurve" than I had first thought and that surprised me when opening the box.  I fully expected much less "curve" similar to my Hornet but want to lay it next to my buddy's Bears to do more comparison.

Probably blathering about something no one else cares but these old bows interest me as do the bowyers of that period, since born in 52. The well known brands are great but it's these "huh?" bows that grab most my interest these days.  

Ill get a photo of it along side my Hornet and a 60s Bear to compare limb designs.

I do know this much so far.......I'd buy another one if I find one similarly priced. Always been a "wood pecker" when it comes to excellent grain even if it ISNT Braz. Rosewood lol

 

Appreciate the comments, guys. I will be done blathering soon.......I promise!

God Bless

[Bill Sant]

Yep that is a twin to mine, except the shelf has been reworked.  The green fiberglass lam in the limbs is identical.  The one I have is a
pretty plain "birdseye ripple" and had the triangle rest piece that was pictured in the earlier posts.  They are good shooters, are not fast but verrrry smooth.  Enjoy.  Oh yeah the original handle material was a roughout leather wrap like the old hill bows.

[SlowBowke]

Thank, Bill!