Burnishing a Bows back

[Papa Matt]

I rub 2 or 3 coats of beef tallow or even hog lard into my bows real good, and then after all that has soaked in as much as its going to, I rub off the excess and then burnish. You don't need to oil as you burnish, the 2 or 3 oats will already be in the wood when you do it and be more than enough. After it is all slick and shiny, I sometimes add a light coating of lindseed oil as a final coating to add more durable protection against moistre.

Beef tallow highly preferred as a burnishing oil, but just rub into the wood before not during.

=Matt

[BigWapiti]

Beef tallow?  Where do you get that?

[Papa Matt]

I get jugs for free because my dad raises cattle for market. But I imagine you'd have to go to a meet locker or beef slaughterhouse and you might get it pretty cheap, if not free. Don't even try at most supermarkets. They usually carry hog lard, which also works, but hardly ever carry beef tallow.

I started using it because a cow is obviously very similar to a buffalo and the buffalo hunter used buffalo fat for their bows. You will love the look it gives your dry wood, really makes it come to life. Make it the very first thing that goes on your bow. Apply directly to the dry wood and watch what happens.

-Matt

[Phillip K]

I got a new mixture of Beef Fat charcoal and beez wax, I burnished my last bow back and belly looks Antique and has kept the feathering off the Belly.PK Good Day

[BigWapiti]

Thanks Matt -
I just did a little more reading and it appears that tallow is rendered fat.  So my curiosity is piqued, why would your dad have jugs of it?  Seems like there is a possibly laborious process involved in making tallow.  I'm new to this tallow stuff... I could be very wrong.

[Papa Matt]

Yes, it is rendered fat, which is another way of saying lard, which is why hog lard, bear lard, and probably a host of other animal's lards would work. "Beef Tallow" is just a fancy way of saying "cow lard".

If you don't know--a meat locker butchers your livestock for you and you have to tell them what you want out of the animal and how, and you can either take it or you can let them keep it if you don't want it. When my dad takes cattle to be butchered for meat, each one has its own fat. My dad has the choice of asking for it to be returned to him, along with the meat, or he can tell the meat locker they can keep it if he has no use for it. I just ask him to keep a jug for me every now and then.

Clearer now 

[Pappy]

I always keep some deer Tallow of the deer I take,it is that thick white layer over the red meat.
you can get pices off the hind 1/4 that are an inch thick on well feed deer.A little goes a long way.
I also use it on my broad heads to keep them from rusting.
   Pappy