Fred Bear's Polar Bow

The Bear Polar 1950-56 Dual Shelf bow

by Larry Vienneau

In the early 1950 Bear made several models with dual shelves. The Dual Shelf Models were the Lower priced Panda, Cub and Polar as well as the middle and upper end Alaskan, Kodiak and Grizzly bows. At this time most of these bows were actually long bows, the recurves made an appearance in the late 1950s. As Fred Bear tweaked his designs his bow started to evolve, first long bows, then semi-recurves and finally fully functional recurves. The lower end models are usually more plain maple while the upper end bows has more expensive woods used. The bows were essentially very similar.  

1956 Polar

1951 Polar

The Polar was introduced in 1950 as a 62" simple reflexed longbow with the woven glass and the aluminum lam, maple riser with wedged leather shelf with a leather grip. It was marketed as a target bow but it was also a favorite hunting weapon.
1951 - A 62" longbow with woven blond glass and the aluminum lam. The aluminum proved to be a structural problem and stopped mid-year like the rest of the Bear line-up. Same maple riser wedged leather shelf and leather grip.
1952 – A longbow with length increased to 64" with blond parallel fiberglass front and back. Same maple riser with wedged shelf and leather grip. Though the catalogs states the use of aluminum, it was actually stopped halfway through the previous year (catalog are produced ahead of time and the change didn’t make it into the catalog) Draw weights- 25lbs to 75lbs
*1953 – A 64"Longbow with red glass, this was a *single shelf model with a leather grip. Maple riser. Weights 25 lbs to 75 lbs. Special order special weights or left hand
1954 – A 64" and 68" Longbow with Red glass, and maple riser dual shelves on leather grip. This is the last year the Polar was a simple reflexed longbow.  Draw weights - 35lbs. to 75lbs standard and up to 100lbs as special orders.
1955 A 64" Semi-recurve with brick red glass and maple riser dual shelves, leather grip. Draw weights - 35lbs. to 75lbs
1956 – A 64" Semi-recurve with the same brick red glass and maple riser dual shelves. For most of the year, there were single white tip overlays. Draw weights - 35lbs. to 75lbs. This was the last year a dual shelf Polar was produced.

My 1956 Bear Archery Polar Bow 40lbs.

I own the 1956 Model with brick Red glass and white tip overlays. Mine also has darker wood accents which did not appear in the catalog. In 1956 the darker wood accents were used in the Kodiak. My bow is in excellent condition with the original leather; however the rests were gone so I added a fur arrow rest with snakeskin strike plate. It is a 40lb. bow and is a very fine target bow. 

These dual shelf bows take a little practice to get used to, they do shoot differently than modern center shot bows. Tuning any dual shelf bow is tougher than a single shelf bow; I needed to try several arrow spines until I got the right one. The dual shelf is not a true center shot so the arrow does have to travel around the rest, though not as drastically as a medieval longbow which had not cut shelf and was shot off the knuckle.  The arrow speed isn’t about to break the sound barrier, it pushed a 410 gr. Arrow at 157.07 FPS. But i t is a consistent shooter  and I got some impressive groups from this bow. Overall it is in excellent shape and performs well for being close to 60 years old, something few of us old geezers can boast!!

Here is a great forum post which I found very helpful

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=003321

© Copyright, Larry Vienneau Jr.

All rights reserved.

Paul Bunyan Archery Company

 Paul Bunyan Fiberglass Recurves
by Larry Vienneau

During the 1950 and early 1960s Paul Bunyan Bait Company was Minnesota's largest and most popular lure company.  It was started in 1939 by Karl Larson and based in Minneapolis Minnesota. 

Building housing Paul Bunyan Bait Company, Minnesota Historic Society

It sold Fishing tackle and lures, in the 1950s it began making Archery Equipment. Their archery division was first called Paul Bunyan Glass Products and later became Paul Bunyan Archery Company. It competed with Ben Pearson, Bear and Shakespeare for the solid glass bow. Some people believe that Ben Pearson made the bows for Paul Bunyan but this isn't true.

late 1950s Ad

 Paul Bunyan owned a fiberglass factory in Minneapolis and made fiberglass fishing rods and later archery equipment. In their advertising material they claim to be have made the first solid fiberglass recurve. 

Paul Bunyan bow being tested

During the 1950s Paul Bunyan bows were considered a high quality fiberglass bow. All solid glass limbs are predisposed to stacking and are heavier then wood and fiberglass laminated bows. Because of the heavier limbs they are slower on recovery, and therefore have a slower arrow speed then modern laminate recurves. 

1954 ranking of the best bows for the money

Paul Bunyan Fiberglass Bows were lethal hunting weapons

 If you happen to find some 1950s and 60s archery magazines, you will see photos and readers’ letters about these bows as well as lots of photos of, big game (including Elk, Bear, and Moose!) was killed with solid glass bows, as they were quite popular due to the low price and overall durability. Paul Bunyan made excellent shooters for nearly 20 years.I have not been able to find the exact year they closed their business but it was likely in the early to mid-1960s. 

late 1950s Ad

There isn't much information about the company or the bows online so this is best I could do reconstructing the history.

I shot a lot of fiberglass bows when I was a kid. I never paid much attention to the brand, however I do remember Shakespeare because I bought one with my chores money. I am sure I shot Paul Bunyan bows too. Like many of these vintage fiberglass bows, they can be bought on eBay for a nice price. 

I bought three great 50-55 lb Paul Bunyan ambidextrous bow within one week. They were in fairly good condition and I cleaned them and refinished them. I bought the Model 100, 300, and 500. The oldest is the Model 500, a longbow. Both the Model 300 and 100 are fine shooting recurves.

55# Paul Bunyan Model 100

 

50#  Model 300

50# Model 500

limb profiles of the bows

The Model 100 is the more expensive model. It has a more pronounced recurve. I needed to add a handle wrap to the Model 500, I also added half golf tees for arrow rests. I hate shooting off the knuckle, when I was younger I shot a wooden arrow which had a crack, half the arrow imbedded into my hand, not a pretty picture!!! All three bows were in fine shape. The only problem I had was with the Model 300. Some of the nocks were worn and the string did not want to stay put, so I refiled the nock groove. 

refiled nock groove

The bows are very good shooters. I got nice groups from all three. Each had the typical hand shock but Model 100 was very slight. 

I shot 12 arrow 410 grain weight from each bow though my chronograph and average the results. These bows have Fast Flight strings, here are the results:

55# Model 100 -------------178.68 FPS

50# Model 300 -------------173.18 FPS

50# Model 500 -------------169.57 FPS

respectable speeds for 50 year old fiberglass bows

A Paul Bunyan Bow on the first page of 1954 "Archery Handbook" by Edmund Burke

this 1960s ad shows a hunter with a Model 100 Fiberglass Bow

© Copyright, Larry Vienneau Jr.

All rights reserved.