Old bear bow fiberglass question

[Bill]

I found a 67 Bear "black beauty" for sale, 46# for $150. Short, yes. Finger pinch to point of pain, yes. Have I wanted one since I bought a Red Wing Hunter instead 39 years ago, yes.

Is this amount of 'fractures' in the fiberglass to be expected in such an old bow? I believe it's normal in the old black beauties.

I'm not looking for this as my daily-shooter but for a fun second (or actually 3d or 4th) bow.

Thanks from "the left coast". BTW, our archery deer season opens 2 months from this coming Saturday! (July 14)

Bill

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[Kevin Breaux]

Hey you always wanted one, go for it! The vertical cracks are unsightly, yes, but depending on the depth of the cracks will not affect the integrity of the limbs. If the crack is on the surface and does not violate the glass to the core wood, it will be a shooter. However, I would get in touch with BowDoc on the Trad gang sight and ask him his opinion and also if he would be able to re-do the bow for you... He is the best in my opinion when it comes to refinishing an oldie but a goodie!

Great find by the way!

[duck'n]

I will second Bowdocs opinions and work on the old Bears...if you talk to him you will soon see they are his passion. He redid my old Bear and you can ask Kevin about that bow...top notch. Let me know if you want his contact info Bill, I have it around here somewhere and would be happy to share. Take care.

Brian

[Restless]

Really not too bad. And seems to be common on Super mags. I would shoot it. nice Bow, I'm jealous

[chrisk]

sweet! If I could hold the string I would say that it was a good deal. A buddy of mine had a #50, his didn't pinch until around 28.5 and seemed to hit a wall too. Would of been awsome in a blind though!
Chris Kiefner

[hotfoot]

Hey Bill;

You finally broke down and got one .... Great! You certainly got a good deal on this one.

I've handled a pile of phenolic handle bows and restored several of them myself. >99% of them will show the vertical stress cracks including Bear (67 1/2, 68, 69 Kodiaks), Wing (69 Thunderbirds & early Vantage Pros) and some other brands like Proline, etc.

The phenolic material is actually compressed phenolic impregnated layers of paper laminated into a block then machined to the shape of the riser. Normally, you can actually see the grain of the paper laminations if you look at it under good lighting conditions. Seems like over the years, the laminations separate slightly, enough to pull the fiberglass in the limbs apart a little. Generally you can see separations in the riser material too. Some are worse than others.

If you take the finish off the limbs, you can fill the cracks with Loktite 420 (low viscosity super glue) but 1t's very difficult to hide them completely. You can dye them black with Feibings leather dye or anilines, etc., but they are normally still somewhat visible. I have had some luck with painting the limbs black, but if you attempt any of these techniques, there goes your decals and gold S/N and that leads to a complete restoration job ... ~$150 - $200.

Generally the shooting integrity of the bow is not affected by the vertical stress marks and it is safe to shoot.

Bring it up to the range some Tues.; I'd like to see it.

Best; Al