I have always had good luck with any Minwax product I have used.....correctly. For the heck of it I thought I would try Deft. Bad idea, that stuff would not dry after 48 plus hours near our gas fireplace, furnace registar, or anywhere else I tried. I ended up fighting it off the bow and Im going back to Minwax products and not looking back! Cocobolo wood, black glass, plenty warm, plenty dry surroundings. This was not my first time can spraying a bow, it was my first time without Minwax at hand.
P.S. Chuck I remember what you said, but Im a hard headed German guy and had to spray it myself. You can smack me next time Im around!
yep, if it aint broke, don't fix it.
I should have known better. I have played the finish game with arrows in the past and learned the hard way. So I do it again with a bow this time! Some kids just never learn.......
if youre in a pinch , tru oil is just lovely. i love the smell of it , and so does the mother-in-law. says it reminds her of her dad "waxing" his gun stock...go figure.
i have some minwax polyshades upstairs , and may look into some minwax fast-dry poly when the weather is nicer and i can do it outside , but so far that tru-oil is the bee's knees...
-hov
Pearl,Min-wax products aren't going to dry on
Cocobolo either. You need some type of conversion laquer (Thunderbird quick drying Poly, goes on as a laquer and converts to a poly) or if you have your own spray equipment the best thing is a 2 part catylized varnish.
You can also use super glue as a sealer and put either Deft or Mini wax over it.
I thought Deft was one of those fool proof dry anywhere finishes???
I have Tru Oil. I was told to try a coat of that first, then spray poly over it. For the record; the Deft did'nt dry on my glass either. I have sprayed zebra, walnut, rosewood and maple with no issues using Minwax.
I used 025 cocobolo veneers on my first build..I didnt seal the limb edges and 2 weeks later I still had tacky limb edges..I had to sand edges down and seal with thin superglue before the MinWax Spar Urethane would dry...since then I have always sealed any rosewood or oily woods with the thin superglue...I understand that tru oil will not dry over cocobolo either,unless you seal it first..
I tried wiping the wood down with Acetone over and over until my rag showed no more orange colored oil on it. So far so good, the first coat of Tru Oil looks and feels great! If I can get the first coat to harden I should be in good shape. The grain just explodes with color when the Tru Oil hits it.
The Tru Oil worked perfectly, I am on coat 3 as I type. I used a half can of Acetone wiping the oil from the wood until my rag had very little orange smear. Then I immediately rubbed my first coat of Tru Oil on and it dried in 2-3 hours per label, the grain exploded with color and detail as well! So far the results are great and I love my first Tru Oil use. Takes SOME of the fear out off finishing coco, bacote or Ipe for me.
yeah even my white oak really popped with the tru oil. it looked really silly with the minwax polyshades i did on a test piece. bombay mahogany was just too red.
lets see some pics...
-hov
You got to clean them oily woods with denatured alchohol or something stout and remove as much oil as possible when using any type of finish over it.
I to learned the hard way.
Stiks
Im done! I got this bow blank from Two Tracks Charlie a few weeks ago. Its all coco with black glass and action boo core. It was interesting and a learning experinece in finishing for certain. I am totally satisfied with my end product. The riser, tips and edges are all sealed with glossy Tru Oil. The limbs (glass only) is sealed in a very satin-y poly. The contrasting finish turned out just like I envisioned.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m518/chrislovesjean/000_0070.jpg?t=1293674098.
Here is a before shot.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m518/chrislovesjean/bowgrip1.jpg?t=1293674988
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m518/chrislovesjean/000_0067.jpg?t=1293674760
Looks really good!!
Very nice looking bow. I to have had problems getting finish to dry over oily woods. Never tried the acetone wipe down, super glue has always worked great as a sealer.
looks great
Looks good. I prefer tru oil to finish osage bows.
I use Deft to seal European mounts after they are white.
One of my close friends is a professional gun smith. He gave me a TON of Tru Oil advice, he is a Tru Oil wiz. We are going to do a little more work to the riser with a few of his tricks. For now I happy shooting it!
Looks very sharp.
Do you buff the tru oil finish with steel wool in between finishes?
Also how many coats should be applied? Sorry for all the questions
Lightly buffed (OO steel wool) between every coat of Tru Oil. I only put 4 coats on this bow, it needs the pores filled and another coat added. Thats where my gun smith friend comes in. He makes a Tru Oil slurry to fill and then sand smooth after drying, then adds one more clear coat. He said it will look like granite when we are done. I have seen his work for 15 years, I trust him!
I am getting ready to put tru oil over a set of snake skins so with me luck. I've used in the past over osage with great results so it should be a no brainer but then again you never know..
I have finished a lot of cocabola , a lot of it and I have never seen a spot of cocabola that would finish with tru oil unless it was sealed first. the oils in the cocabola will eventually soften it and eat right through it and it will just rub off. Either a catalyzed 2 part finish ,. conversion finish ,. or sealing with cyro is necessary. I just sealed a riser with several coats of smoothon and the oil came through that and softened the tru oil. I had to sand it down and reseal it with cyro and refinish. I thought that sealing it with epoxy first would work but notttttttttttttt.
God Bless you all and have a great New Year. Steve
I sealed a cocobola riser with bulls eye shellac. Then went over it with satin helmsman spar urethane. It worked great, but might give you a slight amber appearance over time.
im really surprised guys dont use more fiberglass resin. it bonds wood , so why not use it for something like a finish?
-hov