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My grandfather’s first bow

gcr0003

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2018
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8,014
TL:DR My grandfather gave me his first bow and I am wondering if I would destroy it if I tried stringing it.

I never hunted growing up so I regret missing the bond that I could have shared with my grandfather and uncle. I started bow hunting 4 years ago and have fell in love with every aspect of outdoors and archery. I was able to share some hunting stories with my grandfather over the past couple years and it has been such a blessing. I love listening to his stories of his old archery clubs, stalk hunting deer in the snow, and riding his trail 90 through the mountain to hunt whitetail. He decided to give me the first bow he every bought when he was in his late 20s in the 50s or 60s I believe. He told me it was a fine shooting bow and he killed a lot of deer with it. It has been sitting up in PA probably in dry air for years. Is there any possibility to get a string for this thing and not break it. I just picked up traditional archery this year. All I can think about is how cool getting a kill with my grandfathers bow would be. Thoughts?
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Looks like a K4 Static. If it were me, I’d pick up a new K4 and hunt with a bow “like” Grandpas. I know lots of guys hunt with 50+ year old Stickbows but I’d be afraid of having it delaminate and ruining it.
 
That thing is awesome and it is cool to have the memories of your grandfather to go along with it! If you decide you are going to shoot it take it to a archery shop and get them to measure it and tell you what length string you need! Look it over for cracks or where the adhesive has started coming apart! When you do string it start slow and listen for cracking sounds and will should be good to go!! Good luck!!
 
Looks like a K4 Static. If it were me, I’d pick up a new K4 and hunt with a bow “like” Grandpas. I know lots of guys hunt with 50+ year old Stickbows but I’d be afraid of having it delaminate and ruining it.

I think it’s be best I keep it as a keep sake then. That settles it. Im going to save up and buy a Bear K6 static! Next year I’ll kill a deer like my grandfather did in PA all those years ago. How cool is that? For someone who didn’t have that bond growing up I surely appreciate it now.
 
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I think it’s be best I keep it as a keep sake then. That settles it. Im going to save up and buy a Bear K4 static! Next year I’ll kill a deer like my grandfather did in PA all those years ago. How cool is that? For someone who didn’t have that bond growing up I surely appreciate it now.
I often shoot with my grandfather's 56 bear polar semi recurce. Ive only takwn a few squirrels with it, but will some day harvesr a deer. It's smooth as he'll and I shoot pretty damn good with it. This was the first bow I shot when I was 13 as well. Enjoy it however you like. They were built to last, and if not stored in a hot attic they will. Should you decide to shoot it, or at least have a string for it and don't make your own strings, call Allen at 10 ring strings. He'll take the tip diameter measurements and such as the loop size needed is kind of between a recurve and longbow.
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Mine is not a Bear bow but I love my father's Shakespeare Para-bow, just something about shooting something that has been around for that long and seen so much plus has some sentimental value and it has sealed the deal enough if I cannot do it with that bow I know it is my fault LOL!!!!
 
If you decide to keep as a keepsake, look into having it restored. There’s a guy on the Leatherwall forum that restores all kinds of old Bears. I believe his forum name is “2bears”.
 
I've got a mid-fifties Kodiak that is a sweet shooter that I shoot a lot. I'd hunt with it if it were a higher poundage but it's only 35#. It's still fun to shoot and great for working on my form.
I've wanted to shoot one of the new Kodiak's but haven't yet. If it shoots as sweet as the old ones, it would be incredible.
 
Reviving my old thread. I didn’t end up buying one of the new K6s and for some reason decided to get strings for my paps bow this year after having it hanging up for a year or two. I had all my info scrambled from my memory from one post to the next but it is clearly a 50# K6 static recurve as shown written on the bow.

I ordered a 60 and a 59” b55 string. The bow measured 63 and some change the other day, but after reading some articles from what @GCTerpfan sent it doest appear that the K6 model was 64” bow so likely a 60” string. I think it hasn’t been strung in many year and maybe it’s settled some.

I had a 63” string laying around from an old recurve Wing archery target bow I bought at a yard sale so I decided to put that on it to flex the limbs a little bit and assess. I was able to slowly draw it several times. It seemed very solid and I didn’t hear any cracking. A small piece of the limb tip was coming unglued a lso I glued and clamped that together last night. I also added a little bear fur to the rest and a leather patch for the skid plate. I thinking it’s going to be good to go! Pictures and updates to come.
 
Might want to keep an eye on the lamination lines for other spots that might try to delaminate. Looking forward to the updates.
This is the piece that needed glue. An old bowyer told me once that this was fairly common and not a big issue. What your talking about is actually delaminating of the wood from the fiberglass on the limbs, right?
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This is the piece that needed glue. An old bowyer told me once that this was fairly common and not a big issue. What your talking about is actually delaminating of the wood from the fiberglass on the limbs, right?
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Yeah fixing a tip overlay should be no big deal at all. Yes I was talking about watching for other areas that might try to delaminate. Mostly so if it were to happen you could stop shooting the bow before it lets go.
 
Yeah fixing a tip overlay should be no big deal at all. Yes I was talking about watching for other areas that might try to delaminate. Mostly so if it were to happen you could stop shooting the bow before it lets go.
Should be like an inspect each time before shooting type of thing?
 
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