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Massey finish - two part epoxy and acetone
Ruddy Darter:
"On wet weather hunts here in Alaska, I keep a small tin of beeswax mix,( thinned into a firm paste with some oil), for frequent application as needed.
Dean Torges did some experiments published in one of his books which showed a wax finish to be most effective for his purposes also." Quote from willie.
I have to admit I'm a fair weather archer (-S but I came across a simple recipe for a protective wax/polish to put over a shellac finish, (also to dull down shellac with wire wool). Can also be buffed to a shine apparently.
100g beeswax.
2 tablespoons of natural Carnauba wax flakes.
2&1/2 cups of real turpentine, (not substitute).
(Small batch by my calculation with slightly higher ratio of Carnauba wax flakes---->
10g beeswax, 5g Carnauba wax flakes, 70ml of real turpentine.)
Melt the wax together in a double boiler (optional, can be desolved in the turps but takes longer), remove from heat, add the turps, stir well with a wooden spoon, put in jars/tins, allow to cool before use.
I'm waiting on the ingredients to arrive and I will make up a batch.
Maybe a different ratio with more Carnauba wax would offer more water resistance, maybe also add a little linseed oil/other oil?. If a better recipe is known I'd be grateful to know.
R.D.
simk:
Hello Rudy, I do the same but solve pitch in the turpenrine before mixing. All the four ingredients 25% per weight. Depending on temperature takes a few days to really harden out before it can be polished, but im fine with that mixture now for a few years back. Protects sinew as well. Cheers
JW_Halverson:
It's all grist for the mill for me, Eric. Jimmi the Sammi uses this on all his bows and I have seen his rather extensive rack, so I have a good idea of what it will look like. Well, his may look a little more refined than mine, he's a nitpicker on detail.
As for whether it will "thread counted", this bow ain't running in that crowd. Though I have a couple of projects coming up where I'm gonna be that thread counter! One in particular is gonna have me looking for some bear fat for the finish.
Eric Krewson:
I forgot to mention; after I read about Jay Massy's experience as well as being in the infancy of my bow making journey this finish became my go to finish for a number of years. I suspect I put it on close to 50 bows, possibly more, I put it on wood bows, snake skin backed bows (copperheads and western diamond backs) and lots of bamboo osage bows, for my customers hunting bows it got a spritz of spar to dull the finish, for my tournament shooters I left it shiny, it looked really good on a bamboo osage bow which was the most of the tournament shooters wanted at the time.
I came to realize this finish was overkill for an osage bow that didn't absorb moisture that readily so I went to simpler finishes. I used something between the Massy finish and Tru-oil but as that was 20 years ago, I can't remember what it was.
Here is the Massy finish muted with spar, this bow had 13 drying checks down the back, I filled them with superglue, the bow is still shooting.
bownarra:
You can buy epoxy based finishes no problem nowadays - you've just got to look! Kinda pointless making your own.
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