For those who spay finish on bows, how do you hang or support the bow?

I'm horible... First, I use poly in a can not nything special in a sprayer or air gun. If its warm out i lean bow against the house with cardboard under the tip and against the wall. Spray belly, let dry for 2 hours, then carefully take it in to dry 24 hrs. repeat on the other side. Bad I know.
If its cold, I lay the bow back down across corner of work table in basement (use a mask) (covered work table of course) spay on, then leave and let dry, flip and repeat. So far this works out fairly well for me, but I KNOW that's not the best idea.. BUT, I never have a string or anything sticking to the bow, or covering anything that I have to spray over later etc...

I hang bow from a hook screwed into ceiling of spray booth.. i start by hanging bow from bottom string groove using a piece of string..after spray finishing everything but the bottom tip I let bow finish dry and hang bow from top tip and finish the bottom tip. I run a dehumidifier in the Spray booth after I turn exhaust fan off. The dehumidifier brings the temp up and pulls a lot of moisture out of air.. I am in Florida and humidity is always high

I've done the string in the past with spray can.
Going to up grade to a,larger air powered sprayer.
I'm considering leaving the upper overlay longer and,drilling,a,hole, using that for tying up for spraying. After it would a tie point for a wind indicator.

For a bow that will have a grip on it I use this contraption:)





Video below, click on picture.

Roy - Simple, effective, brilliant!

Nice Roy

Yup that's me, Tom...  Simple, effective, brilliant.  

I like that Roy. I don't plan to wrap these handles so I need to do something like that holding by the very tips.

while we are on this subject, how would an airbrush go for applying finish and if so what would be suitable?. i imagine it would need to be thinned to use.

Min wax poly... is what a friend uses. About 3 or 4 coats of gloss and a coat,or two of satin.

Don't think he thins it. Uses a $49 sprayer from Grizzly.

As soon as I make space I plan to,give it a go.

I currently use minwax wipe on poly but wanted to get the extra smoothness from a spray. also didnt want to get a big compressor to add to the clutter in my workshop so thought a small airbrush compressor and brush might be what I want. Dont think we get the grizzly make over here.Like your holding gadget too Roy.

I have seen where guys have drilled a tiny hole in the belly side of the bow tip, on the outward side of the string groove, then hung the bow up with a stiff thin piece of wire. Then after the spray job has dried, they use a tooth pick to dab the same type of coating into the hole.

I put a hook in the ceiling and hang a heavy weight fishing line with a loop so I can hang the bow by the nock while spraying. After a few coats I'll flip it to get the other nock. Make sure you get the heavy weight line, its not fun to watch a bow hit the floor.

I use a bolt to hand the riser and coat hangars to hang the limbs. I mix TBird and spray 6 coats with the sprayer.

Jim, I checked out the preval on line.
How long does one unit last?
How long have you used it?

This is the first time I've used it. Lot less to deal with than a HVLP sprayer. I have 12 coats (2-5 oz) on these two bows and that will probably be it for the unit. I picked it up at Menards for $6. no clean up to speak of which I really like. I sprayed six coats last night. Put my weight and info on bow and then 6 coats today. I ran thinner thru it last night. So far so good. I have some Big Jim Buffalo Hide coming and will be interested to see how that goes. I don't forsee any issues though.

I recomend the Preval to my customers that purchase blanks with Cocobolo, Ipe or other woods that have to be sprayed.  Always have an extra can, sometimes the spray will dry in the nozzle and can't be removed, even by following Preval's directions.