James, all 4 edges of the leather on the Kodiaks were skived. All 4 edges on this are skived down to nothing to blend into the handle. Bear used 1.5 to 2oz calfskin, which is what this is. Ed's handles are a little beefier than Bears, especially in the throat area; the leather adds to this, as does the overlays Ed extends down the riser. The angle on his grip is also slightly different. It took a couple of tries to adjust the pattern of the original grips to match Ed's bows and with this one I lengthened the overlap, since I wasn't happy with the results of the last two.
The transition on the offside is visible; it's also visible on better than half the 40+ Bears I've owned. Since that's not even shown in the pics I was just curious what flaws you were seeing?
Thanks for the offer to take pics of your grip, but they won't be necessary. I only collected the leather handled Bears and have a box out in the shop with grips that I replaced. That's where I originally got the patterns.
I switched out the velcro Ed put on with some shaved beaver fur. It's a real slick rug material that looks pretty close to the Bear rugs.
Thanks for the comments and criticism guys :D
Topic: The nicest '59 Kodiak Replica I've seen! (Read 736 times)
