Trying a different finish on next bow

[snag]

I was re-reading parts of one of the Trad. Bowyer's Bibles over the weekend.  It was talking about using pine pitch dissolved in alcohol as a good waterproof finish that is not shiny.  Anyone have experience with this?  At our cabin in the woods we have had an outbreak of pine beetles. So there is a lot of pine pitch "knobs" on the trees. I took a walk and plucked the knobs off like berries. They are dissolving in rubbing alcohol in a quart jar right now. I will be straining this mixture after a week or so to remove the pieces of bark and stuff.

[Pat B]

Snag, I use pitch varnish on primitive arrows but haven't used it on bows. You have to start off with hard, brittle pitch or the finish takes forever to become unsticky. The finish will be shiney, at least the stuff I make for arrows is.  It generally doesn't take too long for the pitch to dissolve in the alcohol.  Keep it in an air tight jar(small mason jar) and it will last for a while. I have some I made last year and it is still good.

[snag]

Sounds like I already am off on the wrong foot. Alot of this pitch is semi-soft. The other half is hard....

[Pat B]

You can cook the turps out of it or wait for them to disipate on their own. The former is the quickest but also the most dangerous as pitch in highly volatile. I try to find the older, harder pitch balls to work with but I do cook pitch when needed.