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War Bow Finish

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Rod:
I like it when I hear something new  I can rag Carol about. next time I see her I'll shoot one of my beeswax finished bows and ask her what she thinks of my slow bow... lol
Rod.

Yeomanbowman:

--- Quote from: Rod on May 15, 2007, 09:33:11 am ---I like it when I hear something new  I can rag Carol about. next time I see her I'll shoot one of my beeswax finished bows and ask her what she thinks of my slow bow... lol
Rod.

--- End quote ---
Yes please do, I'm genuinely very interested why she believes this is so and how it works.  It must be backed up with some science if true.  By the way, I don't think she has a problem with beeswax.
Cheers,
Jeremy

markinengland:
I have heard it said that using linseed oil on a lemonwood bow will make it go weakl and floppy. I can only guess that this is because it isn't waterproof on its own and bows would have absorbed moisture if left in a damp room.
Now the problem with lemonwood bows is that they dry out in central heated homes. the bows I have seen break look like they are bone dry.
I can see no way that a surface-film oil finish which truly does just stay on the outer couple of hundredths of an inch can seep deep enough into a bow to affect the wood cells in the way they say it does. Moisture and set slows bows, not a finish! IMHO.
Mark in England

Pat B:
I remember reading some of the American old timers saying that an oil finish was bad for a bow(I'm guessing osage and yew). Made a bow sluggish! Like Mark, I'd bet it was moisture and not the oil. Most of the finishes I've used, both straight boiled linseed and tung oil and Tru-Oil are surface treatments. Even when using dry heat, and oil to prevent scorching, the oil doesn't penetrate very much. Usually a few scrapes and you have eliminated the oil. I would guess that a wax or oil with shellac finish would give better moisture protection if it were maintained.   Pat

Rod:
Check the table on p.208 of Hoadley's "Understanding Wood". Tung oil (which is the basis of Danish Oil) does not perform well beyond 1 day of immersion.
Shellac and paraffin wax on the other hand perform far better over a longer period of immersion.
I think bowyers like Danish oil for it's finish and speed of application and drying, but I have not found it to be very useful as a sealant if out all day in the pouring rain.
And believe me, in the NFAS this is not unknown.
And on a yew bow, a more modern coating that seal well but forms a hard surface layer is not much use, since you cannot burnish out a ding without the varnish layer flaking off.
Rod.

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