What are the other letters/numbers as they appear. I believe it was made by Cravotta Brothers, Black Hawk Archery, East McKeesport, Pa. They made a line named after planets; Jupiter, Pluto, etc. This one would have been made for a distributor "Westbow", and that is why their logo is in decal, while the rest is in ink. Blackhawk bows made a lot of bows for other entities like Feline, Anderson, etc.

I want to say it's from January of 1962, and the 1-F designates a series of some sort in the distribution line. It's almost certainly a Cravotta Brothers bow...one of their Galaxy Series, made for a distributor.

I'm piggybacking on this thread as I just acquired the same bow as this model. I got it because I'm very interested in the bow's design and the provenance of the name and manufacturer.

West Bow has only been mentioned a few times on this site. If you search West Bow or Westbow you will find the few threads.

In one post an individual named Dennis Ratcliffe with the handle of "Skate50" stated the bows were made in Houston Texas in the late 50's/early 60's by his father, Wesley Ratcliffe. He describes a bit of history of his father's enterprise but that's the only post from Skate50 there ever was..he had said he would try and scrape up some more information but did not return.

In another "Kelly" (Kelly Peterson) said West Bow was the predecessor to Wing Archery, also from Houston...I have PM'd him for info on that.

I'll post some pictures (not mine but from the listing)...the tips are very detailed with the multiple laminations...they don't have tiny tips like early Wings and the design is different.

However, the recurve is very pronounced and looks similar to a RW Hunter or Falcon limb while the riser look a bit like the Wing Nighthawk.

Just wondered what anyone knows about these and of their place in the history of traditional archery. I'm wondering if West Bow designs were carried on by Wing Archery?

Tip design

Label

Back

Markings

Very interesting, I would love to know more about Westbow and the people involved. Hard to think it a predecessor of Wing though since Bob started in 1952 and that bow is distinctly 60's in design. Anyway, maybe that isn't what Kelly meant. I the years since the original was posted, I can see there is a difference in the lettering style from Cravotta Brothers as well. More info please. 8^).

The post from Dennis Ratcliffe states he made most of the bows from 1958 to 1961.

The description of the bow on ebay says the same so the seller may have found the LW post. I'll have to ask him how he found the bow and of it's provenance.

Just found this LW post that shows early Wings had five layer laminations that look a lot like this...perhaps West Bow was imitating Wing or Wing incorporated their designs?

http://leatherwall.bowsite.com/tf/lw/thread2.cfm?forum=23&threadid=207295&messages=11&CATEGORY=3

I really like delving into the history...

Hi Wayne...I liked the design and look of the bow...your experience and comments on it from 2012 of it being a "sweet shooter" sealed the deal.

There are still mysterious bows out there that may never be identified properly, let alone have a history put to them. This kind of stuff is very valuable to our history.

I agree George...I think the more information we can share the richer traditional archery will become for everyone. That was the purpose of my post and what actually influenced me to pick up the bow...I was intrigued by the possible link to other bows.

That being said, I can't wait to get my hands on it and install a low stretch string with padded loops...those overlays are perfect for the job...bet it will be a hummer!

In the handful of Cravotta Brothers bows that I've seen, in the Galaxy series/subline, the name was always printed as part of a sticker system, with an outline of a Black Hawk behind or near the Planet's name in the sticker, but the words "Black Hawk" never shown. I have not seen them with the Planet's name written on the riser.

Totally interesting, this bow stuff. Wish someday to ID a couple I have over here; the previous owners told me they completely removed the names, stickers, markings, before they painted their camo versions on the bows. After removing all the layers, and versions, of camo paint, I've found beautiful bows, but without identities! I've talked with the previous owners, and they've all said they couldn't remember, "cause we just wanted to bowhunt. The bow didn't matter..."!!!

Let the mysteries continue...!

Wayne: Once I get it rigged up I'll measure the arrow speed and advise you.

Randy: I could be wrong but I don't believe this bow is related to the Cravotta Brothers enterprise...as George and you both observed the lettering is different and even the design does not look like one of their bow, especially the tips.

I hope others can add their insight...

Continuing with Randy's (HARRY CARRY) post concerning the labelling and stickers on the Cravotta's Galaxie series I grabbed some images of a Galaxie Pluto just listed on eekbay.

The lettering...

The whole bow...

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