Trad Gang
Main Boards => Trad History/Collecting => Topic started by: sticknstring+ on August 12, 2009, 01:27:00 AM
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Here's the group pic of the Stewart EXP/Proto Bears, almost in order by year. I left the reverse accent stripe 63 next to the 61's for comparison. Thanks for the help with identifying and getting some of the descriptions more complete. (http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr72/gbsticknstring/IMG_9317-1.jpg)
For those who have not seen it, there are alot more pics and details about these bows in the Bear-ied Treasure thread. Here's a link http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=002798
I'm still having a really hard time picking a favorite out of this amazing group.
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Thanks for sharing all of these and this photo as well. None of us will ever see the likes of it again...nor will anyone else ever hope to.
The 1960 is such a BEAUT..it would be my first pick of the litter for a bow to show off. To hunt with one (or all three, lol) of the K Hunters. That grip has my curiousity up and the one with the "dogleg" looking face of the sight window (furthest right of the three) is awesome.
The little 62 would run a close, VERY close 3rd and if I had it in hand might jump to second!!
That said, there isn't a one that isnt a piece of history any of us would be proud to own and show to others.
Please forgive me but...
A suggestion? I would make SEVERAL copies of GOOD blown up hard copy photos of the group, maybe even ONE PER BOW?
I'm sure you are already logging all the info somewhere to save but the photo thing I think worth risking your poor thoughts of me, to suggest it.
100 years from now the photos and descriptions will still be in play!
Thank you once again.
God bless
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Greg, Wonderful photograph of the line up of Bill Stewart's EXP/Proto Bears. It was great to have you post photographs of each bow and to have everyone go over each bow.
Steve is correct, when we are all gone, all that may remain are the photographs and descriptions, plus hopefully the artifacts themselves.
While everyone will have their favorite based on their individual collecting interests, hands down my favorite is the Clear Glass, Multi-Laminated, 1960 Kodiak Special.
In the future, I hope you will be able to add to this collection of Experimentals, which is truly a unique and interesting field of collecting Bear bows.
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Wade - where are we going? I plan to stick around for a while. I heard that it gets real hot down there.
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Thanks Greg, this is a great thumbnail illustration of the kind of behind-the-scenes activity at Bear Archery in its heyday. These guys weren't just manufacturing a product every day; they were pushing the envelope for a better bow with the same intensity as was evidenced in the massive output from the factory floor. RnD really meant something at Bear, as this display proves. Keep after them. Grant
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What a wonderful piece of Bear Archery/Bill Stewart history.Thanks very much for sharing and I agree,some nice,high quality photos of all the bows together and individually would be great to preserve these wonderful items.No wonder the Grayling bows are so sought after,they really were works of art from their inception right through to the manufacture of them.Ah,the good old days along the banks of the Au Sable River.
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That was a rare treat to follow the unveiling of this group. I'm so glad they are in your hands, available for display and apreciation from both current and future collectors. Thanks a ton.
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Just amazing!
We have all wondered how Bear Archery managed to effectively change its bow models, like the Kodiak, every year. Here’s proof of the continual out-of-the-box thinking and back-room experimenting that must have proceeded all of those many changes.
I wonder how many more EXP. bows were simply cut up and the pieces thrown in the trash bin because one thing or another didn’t work, or Fred didn’t like the look? I’ll bet it was lots.
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Totally awesome Greg, they look good all polished up! Glad to have someone with as much passion as you with this important piece of history, wish we could have saved more of the items from the shop.
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I was lucky enough to shoot the one Ted has, a Bill Stewart EXP with multi cam limbs,I feel very lucky to be able to even hold it, much less string and shoot it.
Impression's? very smooth, very quite,I took 6 shots and liked the way it shot, I stopped because it was only getting more comfortable. lol
Great history for sure!!
Course Sasha's bow was pretty awesome to!!
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Don't worry Greg I wiped all of Kurt's drool off of the Stewart/Bear.
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Steve Wade John Thanks for the suggestion. I have so many digitals of them it's rediculous, but almost no hard copies at all. I'll get started on that asap. I have a couple sets with diferent backgrounds that look alot better than the shiny dark wood set.
Wade I also hope a few more EXP's can be added to fill in some of the gaps.
Bill Here's a quote from a Bill Stewart interview by Doug Walker in National Bowhunter in 1998,
"Question: The famous Kodiaks and Grizzly bows - how did you come up with that design? Answer: The Bear bows of this time were straight through the handle and limb section, and with a static ridgid recurve.
I designed a handle with a forward deflex and the limbs reflexed with a semi-working recurve. After numerous experimental models, came out with a nice performing bow."
This is a great interview if you ever get a chance to read it. Short but to the point.
While I researched Mr. Stewarts work and the bows he had created and kept together all those years, I was impressed by how many times the catalog description included references to " the Bear laboratory, after years of research and testing, from the hands of Bears master bowyer etc..."
I think the R&D dept. at Bear was a pretty happening place back in these days.
Ted they didn't take much polishing the way Mr. Stewart put them away. Just a little soap and water and a light coat of Renaissance wax(Thanks Sandy! for everything!!)
Ooooh! I hope you got that drool off quikly!... Could you rub a little wax on it for me so I can sleep?lol
Thanks everyone! I'm really thankful for this place and this group of people. Greg
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Greg and Ted that was not drool!!lol
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Ahhhh, MAN.Say no more Kurt,LOL.
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EWWWWW! Not cool.
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Ohhh Kurt! That's funny stuff right there.....ah,Ted... instead of wax, how about a Lysol wipe, just in case.
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You did not see the bow John
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ttt
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Related to this thread, there is a Bill Stewart Signature SN 0074 signed "cam bow" nearly identical to the 1965 experimental models shown here, on the big auction site of all places????
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Please bear with me, in that I have minimal knowledge about recurve bows. I am looking for info as the value of two recurve bows that I believe are Bear bows manufactured in the '60s. Neither have the “Bear” medallion. Both have some field use, but are in nearly new condition.
The first bow is inscribed “EXP#6 AMO – 68” 34#” with a Bear sight inset into the upper limb bearing the words BEAR and PAT. PEND. The bow has yellowish- white laminate on both the front and back sides – the yellow may be from aging.
The second bow is inscribed “EXP#7 AMO – 58” 40#”. In that the inscription appears to be in the same script as that above, I assume it also is a Bear bow. The bow has black or very, very dark green laminate on both the front and back sides.
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Marc
You should post some pictures, Bear bows with exp on them usually mean experimental and are very uncommon, there are people here who can tell you more about them.
Kurt
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Pics!!
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I am unable to post images (not computer literate); but I was able to accomplish the feat this way. Hopefully this does not violate some rule or regulation. Bear bows (http://imgur.com/a/VIOFq)
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Very nice, I like the accent stripe and wedge in the Kodiak Special exp!
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The bow on the right struck me at first sight as a magnum and then I saw the length. Maybe this was a magnum xl that was designed to lessen some of the finger pinch.
The other bow was much too nice to inlet a sight into the window. The sqare lines of the sight covering the graceful cresent just doesn't work for me, and evidently did not make it past Fred either.
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Very nice find! From the look of other Bear bows marketed in the 60's, I guess these were '66,'67 vintage.
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The thing that interests me most about those bows is a completely intact sight rail with both the sight and brush rest...those in and of themselves are pretty rare birds...so what you have is a one of a kind bow with something rare included
DDave
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The target bow will be a forerunner to either the Tartar or the Temujin I would guess...the riser is too small for it to be a Tamerlane...I think the fact that Fred chose to name his target line after some of the most ruthless killers in history is irony at its finest...Bear continues to mark their bows with EXP...take a look at their current website
DDave
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Marc those bows are entirely worthy of their own thread...please start a new one so they will attract more attention...just call it a couple of ordinary old EXP Bears
DDave
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I just noticed the AMO marking on both of those bows...that will help the real experts with dating them...the current Cheyenne is a 55 inch bow if that has any bearing
DDave
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I will not be surprised to find out the 58" one is an early Kodiak Hunter. Production on that bow started in 1967, according to info published elsewhere that many here will know about.
Or maybe this is the prototype for the unicorn K-Mag mentioned in another thread? :D
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Wow, what is the history behind those two target bows with the double bend. Any strung pictures ? did they go on sale or remain prototypes ?
CHuckC
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ChuckC, those are a couple of the Tamerlane prototypes developed by the great Bill Stewart. Story goes that when he showed them to Fred, Mr. Bear hated them and insisted they get out of the shop.
That is Bill's "multi-cam" design which he kept making after leaving Bear and going on his own. That's a fast and stable design and popular among some NW shooters since Bill's shop was in Yakima, WA up until his death a few years ago.
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As suggested by DDave, I have started a thread "A Couple of Ordinary Old EXP Bears" on the Trad History/Collecting Forum. I thank all that have responded to my initial post.