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Bear Grayling Bows 1949-1978
By Joe St. Charles
Reprinted with permission from Joe St. Charles
OK. After I wrote that article on Bear quivers almost a year ago I have had letter after letter and phone call after phone call wanting information on Bear bows. In fact, if I totaled up all of the correspondence I get on old equipment, more than seventy five percent of it would be on the subject of Bear bows. I guess probably one of the reasons is because there is a lot of them out there. Probably half the old bows out there made before 1979 are Bear bows. They were popular. Fred's leather business was going well by the end of the 40's but he wanted to expand his business and bows were the likely choice. Bear Archery first start advertising bows for sale in the late '30's. These were made by Nels Grumley in a variety of styles up until 1948. All were pre-fiberglass and each one was personally made by Nels. Fred wanted to start mass producing them at this point, something that was not agreeable to Nels so he left Bear at this time. A small number of all wood bows were produced from the period of 1948-1949, but it wasn't until the middle of 1949, when Fred started utilizing Fiberglass laminates on the back and face of the bows, that the production line really started to roll. Bear Archery was to become the number one bow producer in the world for the next thirty years. The first glass laminated bow Fred introduced was the Grizzly. A full page advertisement appeared on the back of the popular magazine "Archery". This was the start of advertising that lasted for decades. Fred bought the back covers for all the major archery publications, which was constant. This model had a fiberglass back and belly with a maple core, but underneath the glass belly was one laminate of aircraft aluminum. Two other models with this same type of construction were introduced in 1950. They were the Kodiak and the Polar. The Kodiak 64", was the top of the line static recurve, the Grizzly 62", being a less expensive version of the same, and the Polar was a straight end bow and the least costly. The Polar did not have a glass belly at this time, most had a belly lam of wood and a few had just the aluminum lam as the outer layer. These aluminum laminated models worked for a while but glues at the time were not the best for adhering wood to aluminum so the metal lam was removed by the end of 1951. If you have one of these aluminum laminated bows I do not recommend they be strung or shot if you want to keep them in one piece. In 1953 Bear Archery was awarded a Canadian Patent. At this time Fred labeled all of his bow with "Canadian Patent 1953". All of the bows had this label up until 1972. For years this has added confusion for guys new at trying to identify the year of the bow they just acquired. In other words just because your bow may be marked 1953 doesn't mean it was made that year. This marking is not a good way to identify your bow. In 1954 the Kodiak was replaced with one called the Kodiak II. This is the highly sought after model with the small compass mounted on the side of the grip, and the only year it came as standard equipment. This was the first Kodiak available in a variety of lengths, 56", 60", 64", and 68". It was a full working recurve and not a static. Another change during this year was the fact that all the models, with the exception of the Cub, had an arrow shelf on both sides so they could be shot right or left handed. This lasted 3 years as they switched back to a single shelf in 1957-58. In 1957 the Kodiak Special arrived. It was basically designed to be a target bow with its larger sight window, but they were available as a hunting bow also. Lengths were 62", 64", 68", 70". By 1958 the Grizzly had become a working recurve and the Polar and Cub evolved into semi-recurves. All the bows mentioned so far basically had a small leather grip similar to the longbows of today. Most of these also did not have sight windows until '57-'58. All of them had maple riser sections until 1959 when they starting using Brazilian rosewood on the high end models. From then on all the better models had some sort of exotic hardwoods like Rosewood, Zebrawood, Tigerwood, Bubinga, Shedua, and Mansonia. Nineteen fifty-nine was a special year for it was the year Fred decided to add a logo medallion to the side of the riser. This added an extra touch of class to an already quality product and I think is one of the reasons that so many people are starting to collect, these older bows. It is referred as the "coin medallion". It fit flush on the surface and was made out of variety of metals that changed over the years. We will get into dating bows later. Another nice adornment that was added in 1959 was the layers of contrasting colors of fiberglass or Micarta (referred to by Bear as high compression material), added to the back of the riser. This was yet another way of adding some classic style to Bear's line. This was a popular idea and was used on top of the line Grayling bows all the way up to 1978. Two bows named the Kodiak Deluxe and Kodiak Special Deluxe were offered in 1960 with a feature called CRYSTALIGHT Bearglas. It was a maple laminated bow with a veneer thin laminate of Zebrawood on top of the maple, which then was cover with clear fiberglass front and back. It was nice looking bow but was only made that one year so they are extremely rare and desirable. By 1961 most of the models had lost their leather grips and assumed more of a pistol grip shape. The Kodiak Magnum was introduced this year and was the first really short bow Fred produced. In 1963 the Kodiak, Grizzly and Kodiak Magnum were radically changed in style. Due to the zig-zag look of the bow they are now commonly called the "Dog Leg" models. This style did not hold up well and it was discontinued before the end of the same year. Today these are hard to find in good condition. With the popularity of the Kodiak Magnum in mind, a new shorter model was introduced in 1966 as the Super Magnum. It was a 48" shrimp with high compression material (HC) for the riser. In 1970 the riser material was changed to future wood (impregnated maple). This material was used on all Bear wooden bows by 1973. In 1967 the Kodiak model was replaced by the Super Kodiak, It had a riser of HC material (Micarta) just like the Super Magnum. The 1968 and 1969 models had caps of rosewood instead of the all HC material of the 1967. Late in 1969 Fred had perfected a 3- piece takedown bow that he had been designing for years. It was made of future wood and introduced in three handle lengths, A, B, and C. The C being the longest length. Also three limb lengths were offered, #1, #2, and #3. Number three was the longest. With this combination you could assemble a bow in any length from 56" to 70", in every 2" increment. This takedown system still has no equal in convenience and versatility. A solid magnesium handle was introduced as an economy version for this takedown system in 1971. It too was available in all three lengths. Sadly the future wood takedown was discontinued in late '72, but the magnesium riser takedown was made until 1978. There are other models of Bear recurves that were made in G. Some were target bows and yet others were later economy hunting bows but we won't go into detail here. There is just too much. Actually a book should be written on the subject of Bear bows because there is so much demand for this information. Old Bear catalogs can help but they're as hard to find as some of the old bows are. I do not recommend shooting the early aluminum laminated bows, but if the others are found in good shape they still have a lot of use in them. If you find a nice one you would like to use check its condition. First hold out the bow and sight down its full length. This is how you can see if it is straight or twisted. If it is twisted a little, it is something you can probably straighten out. If it looks similar to a propeller, hang it on the wall before you damage yourself with it. Next take a good look at the laminations. Make sure there are no separations. If there is a small separation somewhere it may be repairable with Lock-Tite 420, which is also sold as Screaming Eagle 420. It can be very useful when repairing old bows. Now you can string it. Sight down the bow again before you draw it. If it is twisted you may be able to straighten it up by "bumping it". Bump your limb by grabbing the end of that limb and torquing it the opposite direction it is twisted. Torque it beyond being straight with a lot of pressure the opposite direction as if you were trying to put a twist in it the other way. Hold it that way for 5-10 second at a time until it straightens up. This works for most bows unless it is badly twisted. On a badly twisted bow, if you can get it strung, when you draw and release the arrow the string may actually miss the limb and the bow will actually unstring itself. This can be a less than joyful experience! A lot of G bows from the 1950's and 1960's can have checks that run lengthwise 1"-5" along the glass laminates on either the back or face of the limbs. This can be less than attractive but does not seem to harm the usefulness of the bow unless there are numerous checks in the working part of the limb. Is the finish in bad shape? Some Grayling bows can have checks in the finish that run across the working part of the limb. This is not in the glass but only in the finish. When the finish gets old it sometimes gets brittle and will break when you draw the bow. Also I have seen bows where the finish has failed and it looks sort of like shattered glass. It is possible to refinish these bows, but it takes a lot of time and patience. Just remember not to disturb the decal or silk screen label.
The following is a list of details compiled by my friend Al Reader, one of the most knowledgeable collectors of Grayling bows.
* The Bear logo and model names were in the form of yellow and brown decals from 1948-1956. These chipped of easily and were replaced by the middle of 1956 with a silk screen method that was much more permanent.
* All Grayling bows had leather grips standard until the Kodiak Special lost it's leather in 1959. The Kodiak lost it in 1961 and the Grizzly in 1964.
* The first "coin medallion" was copper and introduced in 1959. In 1960-1961 it was aluminum, pewter in 1962, brass from 1963-1970, and nickel silver from 1971-1972. Late in 1972 the metal coin was discontinued and replaced with a plastic "button" that sat above the sur- face of the bow. These were plated with gold or silver material.
* Bows from 1965-1969 can be identified by the first digit of the serial number. For example; 8Z1137 was made in 1968. The serial numbers starting with the letter K began in 1970.
* Stabilizer/Fishing Reel bushings became standard in 1971.
If you have any questions about any of the Grayling bows or if there is something you are looking for, please feel free to write me.
Pope & Young Club Museum of Bowhunting
Joe St. Charles
19807 1st Ave. S.
Seattle, WA 98148
206-878-7861
THE GRAYLING BOWS
GRIZZLY STATIC RECURVE/ALUMINUM LAM. 1949-1951
GRIZZLY STATIC RECURVE/MAPLE LAMS. 1951-1957
GRIZZLY RECURVE 62" 1958-1963
GRIZZLY RECURVE 58" 1964-1967, 1971-1978
GRIZZLY RECURVE 56" 1968-1970
KODIAK STATIC RECURVE/ALUMINUM LAM. 1950-1951
KODIAK STATIC RECURVE/MAPLE LAMS.1951 - 1953
KODIAK II 1954
KODIAK RECURVE 1955-1967
KODIAK SPECIAL 1955-1967
CRYSTALIGHT KODIAK & KODIAK SPECIAL DELUXE 1960
POLAR STRAIGHT END 1950-1954
POLAR SEMI-RECURVE 1955-1960
POLAR RECURVE 1961 -1970
ALASKAN 1958-1961
KODIAK MAGNUM 1961-1977
SUPER MAGNUM 48" 1966-1976
KODIAK HUNTER 58" 1967
KODIAK HUNTER 60" 1968-1977
TIGERCAT 1964-1970
WOOD HANDLE TAKE DOWN 1969-1973
MAGNESIUM HANDLE TAKE DOWN 1971-1978