I finished a bow with wipe-on Polly and it never dried. 24 hrs later I scraped it all off and started again. This time with spray satin polly, it dried better but still remained tacky after 24 hrs. Scraped all that off and sanded the bow, ready for finish, but what finish?????

Thanks

James

What is the bow made of.  Seems like it's a problem with what you are finishing.

The wood is very dark and when it is sanded the dust clumps up like it has a lot of oil in it.

James

Acetone it and spray it with Thunderbird or send it to some one that sprays Thunderbird to finish the work for you.

If,you don't have access to someone with T bird.
One solution that works fairly well is to either spray one coat of shellac or wipe on shellac.
It will seal the oily wood. Then use any type poly etc.
Everything will stick to shellac.

Did you stain the wood? If you don't let stain dry for a full day, poly will be tacky for a day or two. Or if you do too many coats too fast. If everything is dry before application, a normal relatively thin coat of wipe on or spray shouldn't be tacky at all in 12 hours or less. If it's oily wood acetone should get it ready then the poly drys fast.

Sounds like it might be a rosewood riser. Thunderbird will dry over oily woods. Before buying a air compressor and spray gun system I would use Zinsser Bullseye dewaxed shellac on oily woods to seal it, then a rattle can spar urethane finish.

Simple! Just wipe a coat of shellac on first.

James, I had the same problem with some bocote in a riser.  Left the bow for three months -- still tacky.  I just sanded everything off and am going to spray with Krystal.  Its a catalyzed finish similar to thunderbird.   I have heard about the shellac but haven't tried it.  Good luck my friend.  I'll let you know how this turns out.  I may end up going the shellac route anyway.

You could seal it with clear shellac and then use whatever ya want, but T-bird works the same over oily woods as it does any other and is a better finish in the end anyway.

x2 what macbow and Bowjunkie said.

QuoteOriginally posted by macbow:
If,you don't have access to someone with T bird.
One solution that works fairly well is to either spray one coat of shellac or wipe on shellac.
It will seal the oily wood. Then use any type poly etc.
Everything will stick to shellac.

Yep

Thanks guys for all the info. I decided to seal the wood with shellac and use polly. The bow turned out great. I have used automotive clear coat on a few bows with very good results but to be honest, I hate cleaning spray guns for such a small job.

Thanks again,

James