Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bentstick54 on May 08, 2017, 11:24:17 pm
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What would be the safest way to strip and refinish an Osage selfbow without taking the natural darkening of the wood out or change weight and tiller?
I originally put 5 or 6 coats of tru oil on, and then topped off with a light coat of satin spray poly to knock the shine. I have touched up a few scratches and knicks over the seasons, but would like to do a total refinish without losing the natural orange color of the aging wood?
Should I steel wool as much as I can till all scratches are removed,stopping short of actually getting to the wood itself, or should I take as much off with acetone or other stripper,then steel wool and refinish?
Again I don't want to lose draw weight or risk tiller.
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A light scraping! If the scraping lightens the osage just lay it in bright sunlight and it will darken. The satin poly being harder than the Tru-Oil should come off with the Tru-Oil.
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Thx Pat, I knew that was an option but wasn't sure if there were any others. Bow is 5 years old and taken on a nice red/orange hue now and am hoping on not loosing it. I will probably try scraping gently and then steelwooling.
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I used citristrip on a truoil finished gunstock once seemed to work well
Not much for steel wool though I have seen bits get embedded in the wood
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Bronze wool seems to work better than steel wool, doesn't leave shreds in the wood. I have used it on gunstocks.
Hawkdancer
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A 600 grit sandpaper would also work, try O'Reillys or any automotive parts store.
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I found a well used piece of 320grit sandpaper, so I gently sanded the finish down smooth. Luckily I did not have to sand down to raw wood. I then rubbed it down with 0000 steel wool, then wiped down with a tack cloth.
I was able to save the 5 years worth of darkening the bow had acquired, so was very happy with that.
I rubbed 3 new coats of Truoil on, and it came out looking pretty good. Just need to knock the shine down a little and I will be done.