I have made 2 osage stave bows. They came out fairly good except for the finish. I have used poly,spray Deft, and wipe on Deft with good results on several hickory and one oak bows. I tried poly, wiped on and it took two days to dry on the first coat. Steel wooled and put the second coat on. After two days drying, I tried to steel wool but it loaded the wool and I had to sand it all off. I wiped the osage down with denatured alchol and put a coat of wipe on Deft. It took two days to dry without being sticky. I am thinking about some tounge oil, as recommended by the nice guy that gave me the staves. I don't have tounge oil but do have some linseed oil. Would this be an option or would I need to use tounge oil or something different. Thanks, Don

Linseed oil will work fine. I used some today after staining the bow. What I prefer is Tru-Oil a gun stock finish. It is actually a linseed oil product with dryers and other additives. Once the linseed oil dries I will finish the bow with the Tru-Oil.

If you use the Tru-Oil and want less shiny finish, you can use 3 or 4 ought steel wool as your applicator for the last several coats. My brother does gunstock re-finishing and showed me this tecnique when I re-finished my 62' Kodiak Magnum. I wasn't thrilled with how shiney the Tru-Oil was so using the steel wool to apply the last 2 coats worked great.

I really like Tru Oil finish. You can pick up a small squared plastic bottle at most W Marts in the gun cleaning supplies area of sporting goods for about $5. I believe it is a mixture of linseed and tung oil with dryers added. Several light coats put on with a rag or even my finger makes a good seal and is easy to repair if scratched up hunting.

Thanks guys, I have used tru-oil in the past on gun stocks. I think I will do a coat of linseed oil and see if I like it. I will then go with a few more coats of linseed oil or do the tru-oil. Thanks again, Don

Be sure the linseed oil is cured before you put Tru-Oil on. It could make it take a few days to dry.
 What I do to get rid of the Tru-Oil shine is add a quick spray of satin poly over the bow. I used to do the steel wool trick(I still do after each coat) but after a while the shine would come back as the bow brushed against my cloths. The spray poly adds another layer of protection and cuts the shine, permanently.

In order of water protection to wood from most to least of the items mentioned are:

Tru-oil best
Tung oil next best
Boiled linseed oil (almost no protection at all but looks and smells great).

Tru-oil actually has varnish and dryers in it so it will give the best protection.  To dull the shine rub the final coat with a 0000 steel wool pad dipped in the Tru-oil.

I agrea TRU-OIL is the best.And dip 0000 steel wool into the  TRU-OIL.But after it's done.Hang it up a couple weeks to dry and then I melt bees wax into it with a hair dryer.It melts right into the pours.Wipe off whats not needed.On this once or twice a year and your is complete'ly water proof.

Spar urethane is an outdoor finish and works well. Jawge