Bow Finish

[ichiban]

today i recived some mail, some was from jim hamm (lots o' Books) and some was from steven J and i wanted to say a huge thank you to steven for his generosity, its greatly appriciated.
as many of you know i have been working on a bow build along, and i got to thinking that really there are many out there and i wanted to do something special so to say a huge thanks to steven i have dicided to start experimenting, i hope to make a finish for bows.
so far i have just dicided that it would have to be;
1. Water resistant
2. flexible
3. durable
4. easy to repair and apply
5. produce a matt finish or a gloss that can be dulled with steel wool
i know there are heeps of finishes on the market and its easy as to buy one, but same goes for bows and i know alot of us would rather use a finish we made.
ill keep you updated and when i arive at a formula i will post it.
so far i cant dicide wether it should be oil or spirit based (or both as a 2 part). any oppinions??

[ichiban]

is any1 interested in this or should i just drop it?

[Stickbow Hunter]

I am happy using my choice of modern finishes.

Jeff

[ichiban]

fair enough, i just thought for those out there who build there bows from scratch using a store bought finish may bring them down abit, i know it dose for me but hey i have a recipe and im gonna try it on the next bow so ill show yall when im done and ill post the recipee then aswell

[Stickbow Hunter]

I was just giving an honest answer. I do build my own bows but I prefer the modern finish I use. I'm sure others would be interested in your finish mate. We all do individual things that add to our enjoyment of shooting bows and arrows so go for it.

Jeff

[longbow steve]

Hi Dave, I am interested in your results, I just bought a book with a few finish recipes that I will try on selfbows and all wood lam bows.
Hamish Casimir uses shellac and it delivers an elegant finish on his ELB's, Beetle wings are trad arent they? Steve

[rodlonq]

Looking forward to hearing about your results ichi.

A hobby furniture maker I was talking to last week reckons a polish made with bees wax + 10% gum turpentine is great for a hard wearing finish. Any thoughts from anyone on this one.

Cheers, Rod

[ichiban]

currently im thinking along the lines of a shellac base with a combination of pitch and wax (possibly resin), thats on the spirit side and on the oil side im thinking about a pitch infused linseed oil base with some teak oil for good measure, ill have a fiddle and let you guys know of cause, im also experimenting with blue grenader skin (a yummy fish) the skin is pinfully thin (aprox 1mm) and fairly oily ill let you know about that 2