More Bear-ied Treasure coming soon!!(Pics added 5-13)

[alaskabowhunter]

John, suddenly I find myself strangely attracted to you.... or at least your bow room.... nice handles, wow.

[Killdeer]

Nice handles?
You fellas still use that?

Killdeer  

[Jack Shanks]

Killdeer,

Now you know where the true term  "Love Handles" came from. They came in A, B and C.

[johnnyrazorhead]

Glad you guys enjoyed these.I figured any Bear fan would like to see them.
 Phil- If I wasn't committed to buying these two beauties,and hopefully more besides,I would be all over that MSJ take-down of yours.Absolutely gorgeous.And I've got a set of MSJ made take-down limbs here at the house.Clear glass over zebrawood,look just like the limbs that came with the Signature bow.Boy would they look great on your handle.No trades???

[vintage-bears]

Hi John. I gotta visit you someday to see those handles in person. So special! And I mean it when I say Thanks for sharing them. Such a pleasure.

Now about this handle.
It is so unbelievably beautiful. Essentially a signature bow with black glass instead of brown.

MSJ limbs are also amazing. I have a set of #3 yew wood under clear glass that are stunning and the fastest shooting set I have encountered to date 56#.
Your limbs sound sweet too!!!
If I could get photobucket to cooperate tonite, I will post some pics.
PS:
The limbs for the signature bow were Yew wood under clear glass...........    

...........Philip

[johnnyrazorhead]

Phil,
 I would have to dig my limbs out,but I imagine it's very likely that they are yew and not Zebrawood.If I can get some pics of them I will post them..
 Anytime you're near Michigan,the Compton shoot is coming up,let me know and we'll get together.

[johnnyrazorhead]

[vintage-bears]

That is one thing I must do someday.
Visit you John and spend a day at Compton with you.
Here's the Yew limbs......Philip

 
 
 

[johnnyrazorhead]

Sounds like a plan to me Phil.Let me know and we'll get together.And my wife makes a pretty good home-made ravioli and sauce.Italian food would definitely be in order.
 If I remember correctly,the limbs I have look very similar.Maybe they are yew wood too.I'll dig 'em out a.s.a.p.
 Just saw the double post above.Don't know how that happened.
     John

[Hobow]

WOW!  I don't know what else to say John, what an amazing find!  

Aside from the riser thickness, are the sockets and overall dimensions the same as production risers and do they accept the production limbs?

It proves that you never know what is still out there in hiding, just waiting for someone who is willing to dig deep enough to find it.

Btw, I find it very impressive that you were able to hold your excitement back and start with the (still great) Tamerlane pics...

Thank you very much for finding these and sharing with us, congratulations!

Brad

 

[johnnyrazorhead]

Hobow(Brad)-Yes,the sockets do accept the production limbs.Other than the pics and story I will be sharing with you soon,they are the same as production sockets in dimension.
 And you are right,you never know what still lurks out there in someone's closet,garage,under the bed,barn,etc... I'm sure more items will surface.
 It was hard to start with the Tamerlane's first.As impressive as they are,these risers were the real excitement for me.I had known about these risers,and several more,for many years now.I never really thought I would end up with any of them.I actually offered to sell the B1008 riser for the owner and offered it to several interested collectors,but the price was pretty steep(his price) so no one wanted to bite.I finally decided that as much as I like them,I should stop kidding myself and just buy them for myself.So I did.Initially I had hoped to own just one for myself,but it snowballed.Thankfully.They are such a huge part of Bear Archery history and it seemed wrong to break them up,especially when you have consecutive serial numbers like these two have.They belong together in my opinion.
 And "thank you" for the thank you about sharing them.Shortly after I started collecting old archery stuff,I started putting together some displays and set them up at a handful of shows here in Michigan.I really enjoyed having the stuff but I wanted others to be able to enjoy it as much as I do.Work,and time don't allow me to set up my display as often as I would like,plus only us Michiganiacs would get to see it.By taking pictures and posting them on websites like this,I think alot more of us trad/collecting guys get a chance to see it.Who knows if /when someone like yourself,living in Oregon would have ever had the opportunity to see such items as this.I am just glad to share these historic items with others that have the same passion for it as I do.Kinda like a cyber campfire.Glad you like them.  

[jcar315]

John, Many thanks again for sharing. Appreciate you taking the time to post it here and let us admire them from afar.

[Larry m]

Thank You John for Sharing all you Do!!
Out here on the Left Coast we don't get very many opportunities to rub shoulders with Serious Bear Collector's who manage to come up with the truly unusual and unique. It certainly is a Treat (and an education) to see the wonderful postings that come up frequently on this site by yourself and others.
Please keep them coming.......

[johnnyrazorhead]

Larry- I am very happy that you enjoy seeing all this stuff as much as I like to show it to you.I'll keep it coming as long as I can keep finiding it.There is a wealth of information on this site for all of us trad guys and I too can't get enough.

[Missaukee]

I thought I might add this. This is B 1002. It was originally owned by the great Alaskan Bowhunter George Moerlein. He shot a World Record (P & Y) American Bison with it in 1972. I do not know much about Mr. Moerlein, but I have seen a few pictures of him with this bow, so it may have been his go to bow. It is currently part of The Pope & Young Museum collection. All specs are identical to the two handles John posted. Enjoy...
 
 

[johnnyrazorhead]

Don-
 That is too cool! Thank you so much for posting those pictures of B1002.It fits perfectly with this thread.There is an A-riser with the same serial number.Now that would make a real nice pair.Great photos.

[Shane Reed]

Almost wrote to you that I would trade my Takedown Grumley for the signed TD riser, and thought twice. lol

[johnnyrazorhead]

Well,I've got a minute before I leave for work so I'll try to finish the story of the latches.
 I was told that shortly before these risers were to be shown to the public,Fred was at the plant late one evening doing some last minute experimenting with the bows.My friend received a phone call at his house from Fred telling him that they had a problem and he needed him to come back to the plant.So back to the plant he went to find Fred looking distraught with a red bandana wrapped around his lower leg and blood trickling from beneath it.Fred was testing to see what would happen to the bows if a string were to break unexpectedley so he was holding the bow with his foot and drawing the string back with one hand and then cut the string with the other.The limbs had somehow popped out of the sockets and ended up whacking Fred in the shin.He needed to know why this happened as they couldn't have this problem with the new bows.After some further research including some high-speed filming,it was determined that the latch was slipping out from underneath the samll spring loaded keeper that holds it down.Both the end of the latch and the keeper were flat on the ends and the stress concentrated on that portion of the limb caused the latch to flex slightly and slip out from underneath the keeper.So they decided the solution to the problem was to change both the end of the latch and the keeper so they were "hooked" at the end and not flat.This small change seemed to work with no further problems.I always found that story interesting,to know the amount of thought that went into even the smallest detail of these remarkable bows.Here are some photos showing the earlier flat latch system and the "new and improved" system with the hooked ends.Riser # B1007 has the flat latches and riser # B1008 has the new system.You can see that the latch itself on # B1008 is made from a different metal than the socket,more of a black color instead of the grey colored metal on the socket itself.The same black latch appears to be found on the production models.

 Note the flat ends of the latch and keeper on B1007:
 
 Also note that some of the keepers were sort of "T-shaped" whereas some others only had the hook on one side.
 
Here is the new and improved latch on B1008.You can see the slight hook on both parts:
 
 Can you see the darker colored,black latch on B1008?
 

 I just thought that was an interesting story in regards to these wonderful bows.Hope you enjoyed seeing history in the making.  

[vintage-bears]

John,
It's interesting how the C riser retained much of the prototype 'socket to wood design" you show here in pics.

Thank you again for all the pictures, stories and history of these magnificent works of Fred Bear.

Your stocks have surpassed facebook stocks!

I would like to purchase some shares..........Philip

[cacciatore]

Thanks so much Johnny for posting! I wasn't aware of these preserie TD!
Now I think I have just to send you some good Parmigiano-Reggiano(Parmesan is the fake staff)
for enjoy those ravioli with Philip!