Danish Oil sinew and rawhide finishing

[pumarchery]

Hi there fellow stick benders!

Have a small question; Is Danish Oil a suitable finish for a sinew backed or rawhide backed bow? In both cases it'll be glued with hideglue, if that makes much difference. It's currently the only finish i have at hand, next to some beeswax. Would it do the job alright? And if i want to paint the rawhide (or the sinew, if that's possible) like some NA bows, would i need to finish and then paint or paint and then apply the Danish Oil (or failing that, beeswax)?

If it don't work, do y'all know any (affordable) finishes which work well and are available in EU?

Kind regards,
Michael

[Pat B]

Michael, You can use acrylic paint right over the sinew or rawhide. It will help to seal somewhat. You should be able to get polyurethane varnish which would be better than Danish oil. Danish oil is a penetrating oil finish and IMO not good for sinew or rawhide. Others might have a difference opinion.

[pumarchery]

Pat,

Awh that's what I was fearing, guess I'll have to go get new finish then. Next to acrylic paint and polyurethane varnish, are there some more natural/Primitive- (ish) options worth considering?
 I liked the Danish Oil because it's like sort of a compromise between old and new, don't stink to me and is easier to apply then just beeswax. I like to use old/Primitive stuff if i can, before I even was only using beeswax. However I don't mind terribly to 'compromise" for convience sake with modernity a bit, so this'll be good if there ain't much else in terms of other finishes which work well.

Oh and sort of related, do you have any further advice for sinew or rawhide backing in general? Things to look out for? Or some neat trick u learned which makes it easier?

Anyhow thank you for the advice, I wish u much good building and shooting (:

Kind regards
Michael

[Pat B]

One sealer Jay Massey used on his sinew backed bows was French polish, a mixture of shellac and linseed oil put down in layers over time. Native Americans used bear grease but they also stored their bows near the smoke hole which added creosote from the smoke. You might try animal fat with hard pine pitch added and maybe a final coat of hard pine pitch dissolved in alcohol(pitch varnish). I've never used any of these on sinew backed bows. I have used pitch varnish on sinew wraps on arrows with good results.

[pumarchery]

Pat,

Those sound good the French Polish shellac and boiled linseed sounds awesome, gonna try that. We don't get bears here in Netherlands haha, so not fat from them.Maybe I'll try some other fat which is suitable. Thank you so much for all the answers Much good shooting to ya!

Kind regards,
Michael

[Pat B]

Any clean animal fat should work.

[pumarchery]

I'll try find some, we have plenty farms thankfully so maybe I'll be able to find cow or pig fat from them farmer guys on the cheap. First wanna try that one by Massey though, I heard French Polish gives very nice look. Do you apply fat any different than you would like beeswax (heat em up some then rub it on) or is done in other way? And thanks a bunch Pat, real nice how helpful this community is (=