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Pheasant feather backing application
Josh B:
Thanks Dave! I hope you have some nice Merriam feathers to back a bow with in the near future.
Thanks Pat!
Thanks Steve! Unfortunately, I'll have to mail it in.
Ryan hopefully this will help you along a bit. I'm sure this is not the only way or even a good way to go about feather backing, but it does work for me.
If you have any questions or need more in depth explanations, I'll do my best to help. If anybody has any tips or suggestions of a better way to accomplish this, they would certainly be welcome. Josh
Josh B:
It's been a couple days so I am now going to seal the feathers. I'm not sealing the entire bow, just the feather backing. There's still gonna be some residual moisture in the wood that needs to dissipate for another couple days. I'm sealing the feathers at this stage so that it is easier to clean up the edge of the backing without tearing pieces of the feathers off and also to keep wood dust out of the feathers when I finish sand the bow. I seal the feathers by applying six coats of tru-oil with a 45 minute pause between coats and then let it cure overnight. Tomorrow I will lightly steel wool with the flow of the feathers to knock down the high spots. Don't cut the finish down to the feathers with the steel wool. This is the stage where you will find out how good you glued down the feathers. If you did a poor job, you will have feathers floating to the top of your finish. If that's the case, wait for the tru-oil to get tacky and try to push the feathers back down with the cloth that you applied the oil with. The tru-oil will eventually hold them down, but it takes several series of coats to accomplish it. A note on tru-oil, this is the second feather backing I've done and I used tru-oil both times. The tru-oil really darkens the feather backing and subdues much of the iridescent colors(blues and greens). The next one I do, I will try spray poly acrylic. I would of this time, but I am concerned that it might crack over time and I have a limited time to finish this one. I'll try to snap some pics later today or tomorrow. Thanks following along so far. Comments, questions and suggestions are welcome as always. Josh
Aaron H:
Very cool Josh, thanks for the build along
Josh B:
Thanks Aaron! I'm gonna be too busy to work on it for a couple days. Hopefully I can finish it up this weekend. Thanks again! Josh
Danzn Bar:
--- Quote from: Gun Doc on April 14, 2015, 10:34:42 am ---The next one I do, I will try spray poly acrylic.
--- End quote ---
Hey Josh,
I've done a few bows with feather backings....I made a mistake one time of gluing down the feathers with a softer material than the finish I used and the finished cracked when it was completely cured. The feathers put the finished further away from the back of the bow and being a softer material under the finish it was bound to crack on me.
Not saying yours will crack...just providing my experience.
By the way love those pheasant feathers. :)
DBar
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