I'm putting snake skins on a glass bow and I want a gloss or semi gloss finish.
The skins are going to stretch when drawing the bow.
I used VHT wheel paint on skins before and I think it's trying to crack on the skins.

I may use Shellac or tru oil on the Fiber Glass
what do you think?????????????

Have you considered spar varnish?

I used it on several bows. It is very durable, but not as "hard" as the VHT. The only reason I quit using it was I didn't like the way it darkened/yellowed white fiberglass.

Ive never done skins, so take it with a grain of salt.

Helmsman spar varnish always orange peeled on me

I've used Tru-Oil on a glass recurve with no problems. I've never skinned a glass bow but have skinned many selfbows. I use Tru-Oil on all my bows, skinned or not. I also spray satin poly over Tru-Oil to cut the shine.

Thanks Pat
I think I will be using the Tru oil

I need to find all the sand paper scratches, the first coat should show me where to sad them out.

You may try a few Thin layers of shellac and then the VHT. If I remember right that is the process Torges recommended over skins. The only issue I have with tru oil is that it darkens/yellows. However it does make the color of the skins pop.

Quote from: Mad Max on July 07, 2020, 06:29:29 PM
Helmsman spar varnish always orange peeled on me

I've had that happen before on projects. Not sure what the cause it.  Maybe putting it on too heavy? 
I just wet sand it and give it a quick light coat to finish.

I like Tru Oil on a gun stock but don't have the patience with it for bows.  I can spend weeks on a gun stock and be fine but a bow.  . . . I wanna get on with it.

Minwax wipe on oil base poly works good but never did a bow with snake.

Quote from: bucknut on July 07, 2020, 07:22:02 PM
You may try a few Thin layers of shellac and then the VHT. If I remember right that is the process Torges recommended over skins. The only issue I have with tru oil is that it darkens/yellows. However it does make the color of the skins pop.

I just checked the VHT and it is flexable, and I like the way Shellac dries fast for finding scratches and filling the grain.

Bvas--I had a piece of flat glass, and one day as I was spraying round up with the pump up sprayer, I was thinking about orange peel, after I washed it out I laid the glass on the floor a sprayed some water on it , it beaded up, so I sprayed some more on it, after I sprayed enough water on, it all came together and flattened out.
I think we are not laying down enough to flatten out

I have used tru-oil on all the glass longbows i have built and really like the look once it is buffed out. It is durable and easily repaired if there are any scratches. The only drawback is the time, gotta take it slow and let it cure a couple of weeks before you buff.

Thanks I'm going to try it sometime 

I did this one with Tru oil a while back ,I thinned the first couple coats with mineral spirts then just regular coats its a little more glossy in the pic do to a final coat of ceramic wax !

 

There is a quicker way to apply tru oil that doesn't require having wait so long to let it dry. Apply it with your finger, then wipe it off with a paper towel. This leaves a really thin coat that'll dry enough for a new coat in about 15 or 20 minutes. Then you can apply another coat. Keep doing this all day, and it'll start to get shiny. I sometimes put 15 or 20 coats over two days, and it comes out really nice. And if I don't want it so shiny, I go over it with steel wool.

 

Good to see you on here, It's been a while