Bear replica laminate bow..
These pictures show the pre-bent laminations that are next to be glued on for the static tip " brush nocks", or, underlays for the string to ride in that were so typical of Grumley's bows..I simply ran the thin lams under hot water for about a minute, shook them dry and clamped them to the bow on the press for two days. They are dry and this will make them conform more easily during the glue up..There are several other pictures to sort of show you where I'm heading..The small bow on the press is a Bear 1952 KODIAK static tipped Grumley influenced production bow..I am amazed at the hand work that went into these little bows in those early days of Bear Archery..The bow probably sold for $ 30.00, 1952 money...:)

This one was given to me by a friend and I refinished it..new
leather etc..It's still very much a shooter and I it brace it at about
5.75"-6"...a common mistake was to brace these little bows too high AS IF they were recurves..when in fact, the early Bear bows IMHO were really short 'longbows' with the static recurve added, retaining the narrow core..Brace 'em too high and they die in performance and don't shoot as well..
Note the other picture where the BEAR bow is laying on the bow press, with the bow blank to the left...I have quite a bit of narrowing and trimming to do during the tillering as the limbs will be very trim..somewhere around 1.25" at the widest point..more like a longbow than a recurve limb in that respect..
The BEAR bow is 52#@28" and this laminate bow I'm making has a target weight of 50-55# @28", but I will tiller it in to 30"..2-3#s per inch...

..I measured limb core, taper, glass thickness etc to duplicate the crossection
as faithfully as possible..Back and belly glass is .040", Four pairs of lams are
.001 per inch taper, with butt thickness of .060" for this bow..Curly maple
under clear glass, another lam of rock maple and then one of osage to transition my color from riser to tip overlays..I DO like some color in a bow..:)..Riser is 14" thru the fadeouts...

I have another set of components for a bit heavier bow that will use .050" glass and butt thickness lams of .075..:)..should be around 60-65# when that one is done...My son will probably have me make him one too..:)...
I have made some small modifications both in construction and design which will enhance the performance and durability yet hopefully retain the early
glass-laminate static tipped bow flavor and charm that make these little bows so pleasing tot the eye and so much fun to shoot.. ..

My static ends are just a tad more sweeping than the harder angled ones on the BEAR bow..but will arrive at a very similar look and feel when done with the brush nocks and overlays.. Note I have some excess on the limb ends which will be cut off eventually, once I 'feel' of the bow and get an idea how the weight and tillering will be..I want the string to ride nicely on the brush nock underlays..not too short, not too long, when braced properly at about 6-6.25"...Jim