Ok,

It didn't even dawn on me that they may still be making the 60" version.  Dough! 

Yeah, that looks like it's on the same side as the coin only the bottom of the riser and the coin is on the top of mine.

I gotta say man, that's the reason Bear fell into disfavor for several years with us older guys.  Back in the seventies a lot of folks thought they kind of went off the rails a little bit and away from the "Fred Bear Way".  Deserved or not it hurt the reputation!

They fell behind in compound technology a little.  I think they started chasing the curve and ended up going with gadgets an gimmicks instead of just doing the proven while they did R&D on 'innovations'.  It even bled over into their traditional bow. 

Gotta say, that kind of strikes me as an 'innovation' that should have gone away and stayed away.  I do have to say, it's prettier than mine is.  They've gotten a lot better at staining/finishing the wood. 

On the other hand, the riser on that one and I suspect all of the new ones is a single piece of wood.  It's just separated by tape and finished differently to give it the look of Fred Bears original design. 

Mine is actually 7 different pieces of 5 different kinds of wood laminated together to form the riser.  Plus the Bear Glass.

Here's a close up of mine.  You can see the different grain directions.  Just guessing, but being a hardwood lumber inspector it's an educated guess...it looks like the two big sections are Osage and Elm.  The thin pieces that make the strip in the middle look like maple and walnut.  And bamboo on the outside under the glass, which I suspect is what they call future wood in the description.  You can also see the factory brass quiver inserts and round bear coin.

The 64" SK was only made 67-70.  I think they've been making the 60" version since.  At least they still make it.   

I don't know the whole story behind the compass.  It's actually on the rest side.



This is taken from a 1999 commemorative.

That 64" you have might be pretty rare.  Especially since they also made them in a 60" during those years.

Compass?

Never heard of such a thing.  Only thing on the other side of this one is the round bear coin and the 2 brass inserts for a quiver mount.

I know from the catalog page Bear sent me that the only optional equipment they offered was Bears 3" hunting sight and the Fred Bear stabilizer and quick-connect.  And it 1970 you could order it painted in Fred Bear camouflage for the first time. 

I wonder if someone replaced lost coins with those little compasses?  They are about the same size.  They certainly didn't come with it if you believe the catalogs.  Maybe it was some kind of accessory that Bear offered for after market instillation or something, but I'm pretty sure it didn't come from the factory like that.

It's not like there were that many versions of it to be kept up with either.  The Super Kodiak was only made for 3 years, 1967 thru 1970.  So I don't get that one? 

JD,

Does that bow happen to have a compass on it? (on the other side)

I've seen some SK's online that have them.

Thanks Ty,

Yep, coming along pretty good.  If I can ever get a few uninterrupted days in a role, it'll come a lot further along. 

And I hope there is something to be learned. 

A lot of aspiring knife makers get discouraged and don't try because they believe it takes hundreds or thousands of dollars in equipment to build high quality knives.  That's just wrong.

I'm kind of using this opportunity to show that with just a few easy to get, inexpensive tools and a little determination...anyone can produce a cool knife. 

It's also cool for collectors to see what actually goes into the making of true custom knives.  It's a lot different than those box stock things at the sporting goods stores. 

At least that's the intention.  ;~)

JD,

LOL,

It's good, it's fun...but it don't feel good!

Ain't held that much poundage in so long it makes places I didn't know existed hurt.  From my palm on one hand to the fingertips on the other and everything in between!  Grrr!!!  And I haven't even started to practice shooting it setting down yet!?  Ouch...

But, it's great fun for sure.  Now IF I can just hit with the dang thing.

JD,

Nice looking bow.

Doesn't it feel good to lose the wheels?

Well, I wrote Bear looking for info on setting up the bow.  They responded and said they didn't know what the brace height of the bow should be, but they did send me a very cool pic of the page from the original 1970 catalog that listed this bow. 

Cool!

It list the specs, a description of feature and history...along with the strung height/shooting clearance.  It just so happens I'd set the brace height at 8 1/4" and the strung height was 61" at that height.  Guess what, that's what it was suppose to be. 

Anyway, here is the pic they sent me if your interested.  If you copy the image to your desktop and zoom in using a pic viewer you can read it.  Just a tip.

JD,

This is looking great!

One awesome thing about this process is not only seeing the Night School Knife come to life, but learning alot about the process of actually making a custom knife with each step you detail for everyone.

Welp...I'm back in the traditional bow game.  Man, am I out of shape!

Haven't shot trad bows in years and a friend out on the east coast gave me the itch.  I'm kind of an old guy so it's only right that I ended up with an old bow for my reentry into trads.  Thanks to another friend, Jeff!  He found a 1970 Bear Super Kodiak for me. 

It's 64" AMO and 50#s at 28".  Besides being old, I have long arms.  So I'm over drawing it to 32".  That's why I had to have such a long bow.  I haven't even gotten any arrows for it yet, but I will this week and then the fun can commence.  Got a lot of tuning to do.  On the bow and my muscles.  ;~)

At any rate, here's a pic.  Let's see what you're shooting.  And if anyone has got one of these...HELP!