I just wanted to share the bows on my Bear bow rack. Not every day do you receive 3 Grumley's in the mail; so this is a maybe once in a lifetime experience. Today came a Takedown Deerslayer signed by Fred, a Bushbow that I owned once before 56", and a field bow that all made it safely home. Also on the rack is Fred's knife that was a gift to him later given to Bob Kelly upon his promotion to President/CEO of Bear. I just used the knife on my first deer taken from my Ohio land. Hope all enjoy, and feel free to post more Grumley's

Nice looking group.

I will in the near future. Just a bit of a hectic night, and was lucky to get a few minutes.

Nice !! Great display.

Awesome.I owned 13 Grumleys at one time.easy to sell if need be.

Your right Mike! A lot easier than one very expensive bow.

Shane..some beauties!.. Do you use/shoot them?..They all look like they are still great shooting bows..What are the draw weights of them?..Jim

Jim, I shoot one Deerslayer, and have taken that hunting. The other one 56" Bushbow that I owned once before, I have also shot. I need to scale the bushbow again but the deerslayer is in the 40's for poundage from what I can tell. The other two I got in have not been shot "YET" ;-) Field bow I will probably not shoot because it's nothing I would be looking to hunt with. Have shot all but one Grumley I have owned. My short 26" draw makes it much easier for me to take the chance.

I have a John Brooks Deerslayer replica that is not only a work of art its an awesome shooter.

Shane..Great!..I know Nels would be happy that some of his wrok was still being used by archers 60+ years later..:) Jim

Jim I am trying to find out more information about Nls. I have decided to try and document his life.fred is so well documented you could almost relive every minute through all information out there.it seems like Nels was really only in the spotlight from his time with bear

I believe Nels Grumley's son is still alive..and perhaps making bows?..Can't recall where he is or how to contact him tho..Jim

might have a contact for his grandsons but not sure if one of his sons is still alive. I know John is no longer with us.

Yep..May be one of his grandsons..Jim

Shane can you share some detailed pictures with us. The only bow I have close to a Grumley, is a 54 Grizzly. Jeff F

Sure can Jeff

This one is a hunting bow I use signed by John Grumley. It's another deerslayer

This one is a hunting bow I use signed by John Grumley. It's another deerslayer

Opening day of Bow VT 2014

Very cool, thanx for sharing Shane. Jeff F

Your very Welcome.

Shooting in Ohio on down time. Layered right up. I swear I am not fat! ;-)

It amazes me that all the great collectibles that you hear about on LW ..... Grumley's are never mentioned.

Youv'e got the Holy Grail in my opinion.

Fantastic, that's a GREAT collection bows. I met John Grumley & asked him to sign my Traditional Bowyers Bible. He donated the Grumley collection of bows to the Bear museum I beleive. John

Are all Grumley's one peice of Osage or are they laminated?

Nice collection Shane. Also good to hear you got a Ohio deer. Congrats!

Thank you very much Tom!

Shane, Very nice to see the Grumley statics still working!.. Only ones I have seen were hanging on the wall ..high up In Al Henderson's archery shop in Phoenix Az years ago..

About 15 years ago, I made a press and relpicated the Grumley style Bear static with over 52 pieces in the glue up.. I pattererned it off a 1952 Bear Grizzly static I had..:)

Only made 3 of them..A lot of hand work:)..

They all came out very nicely and are fine shooters..

This one is 76#@30" draw.. Osage lams under clear glas with osage, purpleheart, walnut, maple lams comprising the riser and overlays and underlays..Jim

a pic of the riser on my Grumley-Bear relication..Jim

There are Grumley osage selfbows and laminated.The typical laminated was HYO.Hickory,yew,osage

I'm still unclear about the question: did Nells Grumley use laminations in his creations? (OTHER THAN the handle section)

I always thought that all his bows were one piece of oasage (or maybe 2 separate billets..)

The story I remember, was that when he parted ways with building for Fred Bear, it was because he didn't want to be invloved in the new modern laminations process.

Did I get it wrong?

Many varieties-I had a post Bear Grumley with Formica from his day at Sears. HYO is Osage handle,yew core,and hickory backed.

nice collection. Congrats.

Jim, I have been wanting to geta Replica to my own specs. I like shorter bows, and have been told that Grumley even made some that were shorter than the 56" Bush bow I currently have. Some day I will have a replica designed for my short 26" draw to hunt with.

Steve, From the stories I have been told. Nels left Bear because he didn't want to be involved in mass production bow; which is where Fred was going at the time of departure. Now, I have been told upon acquiring the bow that is signed by John Grumley it was made by Nels before his departure. Below is what was going to be the Ebay listing write up just before I managed to make a trade for it. " One of several extra Grumley bows that I cannot find a home for in one of the 12 Grumley display cases here. With over 850 bows, I need to thin out the duplicates that are not on display. This is Grumley's Transition Deerslayer with Osage belly, Yew core and Hickory back and a Narrowly Woven Fiberglass Backing. The bow represents one of the final processes as the true Classic Deerslayer was transitioning from a handmade bow into a real factory production bow. It was at this period in time that Nels Grumley realized that his talents as the world’s greatest bowyer would no longer be utilized in the making of Bear Archery Bows, and he left Bear to start his own bow shop.

Like many of the bows from this era, a previous owner, obviously wanted a lighter bow, and removed some of the osage from the belly to lighten the draw weight and then re-tillered the limbs by feathering out the osage. This was all likely done very early on in the life of the bow as the patina on the limbs is evenly dark colored. When Osage is scraped down and worked it becomes very light yellowish wood and takes years or decades for the color to age to the rich golden patina you see in these photographs. The fact that the osage wood color is even, tells us that the bow was not very old when the alterations were crafted.

Unfortunately,when the bow was lightened and retillered, all of the identification markings on the belly were also removed from the belly of the bow.

At some point well after the retillering, the bow was acquired by a subsequent owner who brought the bow to John Grumley (son of Nels Grumley) to have the bow identified. In his own words, John explained what is stated above. To make the saga even more confusing, the subsequent owner was also named John, and had John Grumley inscribe the bow…

Good Hunting John

John H Grumley

In an attempt to eliminate confusion at some point in the future, John Grumley wisely inscribed the bow on the belly of the lower limb, specifically because it is a different location than the belly of the upper limb where his father inscribed the bows.

Original leather grip shows little use. There is no leather strike plate, which is not unusual for these bows. In the area above the shelf where the arrow strikes the bow, there is no wear on the finish at all. The bow has seen very little use,which is also evidenced by that fact that both limbs have their original profile shape and show almost no set what so ever. There is no quiver bushing in the leather grip. The finish on the back of the bow is a little excessive. The upper brush nock is perfect. The lower brush nock has the outer most lamination splintered off above the string groove. There are no cracks in the wood nor in the woven glass back. The bow has a few bumps and bruises probably more from being shuffled around in a closet than being used in the woods. There is what appears to be some back paint spots on the lower brush nock. Fortunately they are not real eyesores as if the lower limb was use to stir a can of paint. If these spots are a problem for the new owner, they can probably be removed. To my eye these little imperfections only add character to a vintage archery collectible.

The bow retains its original Nels Grumley shape in the most distinctive areas, the handle, the handle fades, the limb cross section, and the brush nocks. Fortunately,the handyman who retillered the bow was wise enough not to destroy the original Grumley lines by sanding down the entire bow, an all too frequent occurrence with the armature retillering and resurfacing"

... did Grumley use laminations (OTHER THAN the handle) ??

...... I thought it was allways oasage only -- true craftsmanship...

...right or wrong?

I have two statics one Bear Grizzly with the aluminum lam in the limbs that still strings and shoots. I do not shoot it that often because I have heard that they can delaminate. I will post pics soon of the bows. Believe it or not I pulled them out of a burning barrel in a home that was getting sold after the owner passed.

Of course he did composite bows also-read above.

The pics posted here look like growth rings with handle lams & tip lams, With fortsan (spelling?) backing material.

Are there any places to referance his processes (website, catalogs, etc)?

Jim, I think others, myself included would love to hear & see a build-a-long with your Grumley replicatins.

I just have a static recurve itch that needs to be scratched. John

Runner Of course Grumley did lams, both at Bear and after he left Bear. Nels wouldn't put his name on the "mass produced" laminated bows unless he had done all the work on them. He even used plastic for belly laminations salvaged from refrigerator linings when he went out on his own. reddogge

Here's my answer. I don't know who actually wrote the article for 3 Rivers. Nels made 4 basic styles of bows: ?Field (straight limb) ?Hunter (steamed limb tips but without Brush Nocks) ?Bush Bow (having brush nocks carved into the ends of the limbs about 1-2 inches long) ?Deerslayer (with brush nocks 3-4 inches long).

These bows were available primarily in one piece design , but a few were made in 2 piece take-apart and some in 2 piece hinged models. The later Grumleys also can be found in laminated woods as well as self-wood models. Additionally you will find Grumley’s backed with sinew, rawhide, and various types of wood. A characteristic of Grumley bows is the trapezoidal limb cross section. By this I mean that the face of the limb is wider and tapers down towards the back of the limb giving a cross-sectional view which appears as a trapezoid.

Sorry, but I had to copy & paste from another thread and put on this one. Hope this is OK. John

No problem John (Stoner) I hope that you are able to find more info on the process. I do have one Sinew backed Brush bow that I believe to be a Grumley, but I can't prove it. It's all osage. Also there was some form of putting the bow together which I don't quite understand. I was told how by Jacques Bonin, but can't recall. In the handle there is a line/notch. I am going to take a pic and post. It has to do with the way the early bow was made. This one is 100% Osage with just the Sinew for backing.

Shane, I kind of have a feeling what it took for you to come up with those five bows on the rack...seems kind of simple but I know you put in a lot of effort and took some risks to get there...I hope you one day own every Grumley you desire

DDave

Thank you Dave! Yes it was a very very dear price I paid for that bunch! Hope to some day replace what I gave up with a useable bow that I can take hunting. As you can see; there is one very special bow missing from the rack I had posted earlier.

good stuff guys real good stuff ya gotta love em huh ? thank you bd

I would LOVE to shoot a Grumley bow, but wouldn't, for fear of breaking such an old irreplaceable treasure. JMHO I do admit that I did shoot my old static Bear recurve once. I got it on film and video, so I wouldn't be tempted again.

If I brake one, the value goes up on my others ;-)

Nice collection how about making g me whole on the '57?

Raymo, Sent you a PM.

I love the old stuff too.Personally I think the premass stuff peaked and the collector stuff is in takedowns(and peaking there).The new resurgence of Bear is killing the collector market-sell now and try to get your investment back.As for Grumleys-if its not an original(not refinished) and stamped or signed I am not intrested no matter who deemed it to be a Grumley,sorry.I have no doubt others do.Wade is the best living expert no doubt.

Mike, The irony in the statement above is that the bow mentioned was actually a Grumley Hunter TD that had the Bear latch system, and traded to the one person who he thought would make me look bad in previous postings when I had it on Ebay. Those postings were removed from TG, and then on this site after he tried to make me look bad with the same statement about " bad end of the deal." When have you known Wade to get the bad end of a deal, and keep it? Some people don't know when to stop! I don't see this bow up for sale. As far as bows not staying on my rack go; I have had many come and go. Since when is that a crime? I always make good on a deal. I have one that is not complete yet, but I have that bow safely tucked away until some sort of conclusion comes from the transaction. Either his will go back, or I will find another for him. I value my good reputation, and will always work to make sure the other person is satisfied. That is how I can sleep at night.

Grumley latch you mean? 2 piece?

Yes Mike, but it is a Bear patent. God forbid I claim it as a "Grumley" latch.

Publication number US2457793 A Publication type Grant Publication date Dec 28, 1948 Filing date Apr 18, 1945 Priority date Apr 18, 1945 Inventors Bear Fred B Original Assignee Bear Fred B

Shane, good information. We have a rich history, much of it relatively unknown.

Cliff Zwickey also patented a hinge connection for the old bows around 1937. It was different than Fred's design. The mechanical ability of those folks is amazing. But then, it was folks from that era that discovered atomic energy.

George, I like the Grenier hinge. Had a chance at a bow with one and hesitated on my highest bid a while back. I believe there is a picture with him sitting around with Fred and Nels..

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi? ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=002897 Here it is in a TG posting

Link doesn't work

Sorry Mike. Will have to try it again. If you look up Grenier hinge and go to TG topic it should come up.

:( I ain't allowed..;)

Ohhhhh! Even not signed in you can't see? Hmmm

Let's see if this works

Ok, well I can't get it. On line I see page 169 and 170 of the Bowyers bible has the hinge pictured. I do not have that book

I was checking into having the 2 piece hinge latch (Grumley) made again.I already have close up pics of that one if that's the one you mean.

The Grenier Hinge above was not made for any particular bow from what I have heard. You could actually just buy the hinge once upon a time.

Finally got it!

Yeah that's different from the 1 I was interested in

I have the one on Grumley TD which I am sure is what you were looking for. There were actually two styles of the one on Grumley. one had a piece of steel like you see here, and one had a pin set in.

John Brooks Deerslayer

John Brooks Deerslayer

John Brooks Deerslayer

John Brooks Deerslayer

John Brooks Deerslayer

just saw a brush bow go up on the big auction site

That brush bow on the auction site is in great shape and looks to be made of one peice of osage with glued on brush nocks. John

Wouldn't Osage be plum colored? That's too light.

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