I have my dad's old Pearson two-piece from the 50's - he got it at the Pine Bluff plant I believe. It's lemonwood with dark green lam's on the belly and back, 64", 53#. Beauty of a bow and used to shoot very smooth, but the back lam's and one belly lam have come unglued. The back one's are gone, still have the loose belly lam.
I'd love to have it restored to shootability, but I have not been able to find dark green glass for the new lams anywhere. I could go back with clear, but that would mean trying to remove the one that is still stuck.
Ideas? Would you just put it up for a keepsake or try some other route. I might add that I've never built a laminate bow, so I'd have to do a lot of tooling up or get help from someone.
Given the history of that bow I think it should be a wall hanger and not risk having it blow up.
That's two votes for preservation!
I have a few old lemonwood bows that I bought at a flea market for $5 each. I wouldn't shoot these because of a chance of them breaking and I like the fact that these bits of archery history are still around. If I were you I'd hang it up and admire it for what it is. Pat
Sounds like a consensus then.
Mike
Contact Mike Macready "Maddog Archery" he re-limbs, 1 piece recurves, pretty reasonable and very good work.
good luck
Kurt
We have been through this debate before; me on the side of keeping as the treasure it is. Others- I am convinced.. would buy the Mona Lisa; scrape the paint off it; and try to see if they could paint something just as good- on the canvas.
I would hang it since it was your dad's bow. But an FYI to you fellers with old lemonwood bows. They can be shot unless they have visible fractures. Lemonwood is very tough and dense and will last centuries. My Ol' Buck has been traveling for two years now...been all over the country and in Canada as well, and being used for shooting. I took a nice whitetail buck with it in 1992 and have shot it since then as well. it is over sixty years old.
Those old bows were made for shooting, just as the new ones are. Test them a little bit of draw at a time and then shoot them. It is the thrill of a lifetime to take a buck with a sixty year old lemonwood bow. Anyway....they aren't really bows unless they can be shot 8^).
George, I think you see why I was chewing on this. I'd love to sling some arrows out of this bow. The limb cores are solid as a rock, it's just the glue holding the lams on has given up.
I don't plan to throw a bunch of $ into it, but if I ever find some dark green lams I'll have to try it.
Mike....If the lams came off cleanly, then you could just clean off the old glue residue and reglue them. You would need a way to clamp them..maybe even C-clamps would do. Buy some Smooth-On and try it. Maybe one of the resident bowyers here would help you out.
I have a osage/ash laminated wood bow here that came apart in the middle between the osage and a strip of purple heart. I glue it with Elmer's Carpenter's glue and it has held for quite awhile now. Worth a try.