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 (=

[xeniasn]

Some of the uses it brings is rawhide, which is animal skin that has not been tanned but has been cleaned and dried.

Used in handicrafts such as sword sheaths, knife handles, bows and arrows, or traditional objects.

Rawhide after soaking in water can soften and be pliable, then dry very hard.

[medicinewheel]

... Danish oil is a penetrating oil finish and IMO not good for sinew or rawhide. ...

Think so, too.

[superdav95]

What pat said…. I have also used tite bond 3 wood glue watered down 505/50.  I’ve done this over top the rawhide covering that was put over sinew.  I’ve also done this over top sinew directly too.  Tb3 has the benefits of water proofing/ resistance.  Once this dries I’ll coat with shellack or tru oil or tung oil finish over top entire bow including the belly wood.  We are pretty humid up here in Ontario Canada.  I love the benefits of sinew backed wood bows and use them for hunting.  If I know I’m going up north for a moose hunt in wet and humid September I’ve done a Massey type finish that was a mix of 2 part epoxy and acetone or paint thinner.  This is more of a water proof finish but not primitive obviously.  I’ve only done this on a couple and have not done extensive testing on these but the finish was hard but flexible and seemed tight.  If trying to stay primitive as you stated shellack work well if not beating the bow up and dropping it in water constantly.  Over a week or two hunt trip would be just fine.  I’ve no tried the bear grease but hear it works.  I’ve used unscented danish or mink oil paste on my boots to help water proof them during a hunting trip.  I’ve not tried this on a rawhide finish bow yet.  Not sure what it would do.  I would not likely use bees wax on a hunting trip due to the scent.  May not matter too much but scent control for deer is obviously a big deal.  That may be a good experiment actually to test some of these unscented oil rubs like mink or bear or even duck grease to see if it affects a finished bow.   Tung oil has a scent to it but I let this dry off several months before using for hunting.  Just some thoughts on this….