Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: NattyBumppo on December 21, 2013, 09:10:16 pm
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Hi All,
I am interested in ways you folks finish your bows after tillering. Specifically sanding grits, hand sand or finish sanders, specialty or favorite tools for finishing and finally the finishes themselves. If this has been covered in another thread just direct me. I have just seen so many fine looking bows on this site that I am interested in making mine a little more "spit polished" :) Thanks!
Natty
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I usually hand sand down to 220 grit and then lightly burnish the bow with a piece of antler. Tru-oil is my normal finish. I pour a small amount into a gatorade bottle lid and then use a cosmetic wedge to apply around 8 coats or so. To cut the shine of the tru-oil I'll put a coat of satin spray poly over it. I tried a different hunting finish this year. I put several coats of shellac on the bow and then two thin coats of straight TB3. It worked very well.
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Natty
Hand sanding ONLY
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Yep I saw and put my hands on osage outlaws TBIII finish. I think it looks good ......great... now only time will tell. :-\
DBar
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I progress with my sanding down to 600 grit. Then I put about 8 coats of tru-oil on with my finger, rubbing with 0000 steel wool between each coat. I then sand the final coat with 600 grit emery paper and water. That makes it silky smooth but dull. Then I make a slurry with pumice powder and oil and use a cloth to buff the finish back to a satin glow.
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I get tiller squared away with a cabinet scraper that leaves very little sanding work left to do. I take it to 320 grit, wetting the wood and letting it dry between levels of grit. Then seal and fill grain with shellac, linseed oil and 0000 pumice as a kind of french polish. Once the grain is about leveled over, I start applying linseed oil and wax in alternating coats. 4-8 coats of each. The wax is a blend of beeswax and douglas-fir rosin (refined pitch) that I make as a bow string wax. I keep playing around with different homemade varnishes, but I always comeback to the linseed oil and wax in alternating coats.
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I get tiller squared away with a cabinet scraper that leaves very little sanding work left to do. I take it to 320 grit, wetting the wood and letting it dry between levels of grit. Then seal and fill grain with shellac, linseed oil and 0000 pumice as a kind of french polish. Once the grain is about leveled over, I start applying linseed oil and wax in alternating coats. 4-8 coats of each. The wax is a blend of beeswax and douglas-fir rosin (refined pitch) that I make as a bow string wax. I keep playing around with different homemade varnishes, but I always comeback to the linseed oil and wax in alternating coats.
Same, minus the pumice and shellac. I sand until 800 grit then I take the finest steel wool and rub that on it then burnish it with a green stone I have that is SUPER smooth. I then hand rub linseed oil, about 6 coats, then do alternating coats of linseed and beeswax and rosin mixed also used as a bowstring wax. After about 6 more coats, 3 of each alternating coats, I rub with that stone and then if I hunt I just put that beeswax in my bag and rub it on whenever. When I am at my house I will do the alternating coats again. About every six coats I burnish it. Probably going to an extreme but it stays nice for a long time.