I just bought one the other day and its got done dings and scratches. I was wondering if this is easily done and how you would go about doing it. Or if its not that expensive taking it somewhere?
Go here on this site to--Trad/History Forum, click on Restoration 101, All you will need to know and then some.
I've re-finished a few bows and I've sent them off to be re-finished as well. Only you can decide if it will be worth the time and effort or expense of sending it off for refinishing.
Here are a couple of things to consider:
1) Is the bow in good, serviceable condition as is? Is it shootable and safe to use as is? Perhaps it is not very pretty but is it serviceable?
2) A lot of sanding may reduce the draw weight of the bow. Is this acceptable?
3) Keep in mind that removing all the decals from a vintage Bear Recurve reduces the bow's value considerably.
4) If this is a Bear recurve with GREEN GLASS, this fiber glass is very grainy, brittle, and splintery. Be careful. Difficult to work with. There are going to be striations in the green glass which may not come out at all. The black glass is much denser and much easier to work with. I simply don't care to work with the green fiberglass. Others might...
Here is how I re-finish a bow:
PREP WORK:
Write down the bow's specs on a piece of paper somewhere - serial #, AMO info, etc.
Wear leather or cotton gloves.
1) Remove the old finish with a Medium Grit sand paper or sanding sponges. Don't use too course a grit becaues it can cause the fiberglass to splinter. AVOID using a chemical stripper on the bow as it may permeate between the laminations, degrade the epoxy bond, and cause your limbs to start de-laminating.
2) Sand the entire bow with a fine grit sand paper. Focus on sanding out the deep dings and scratchess.
3) Sand entire bow with a very fine grit sand paper.
4) Repeat with an extra fine grit sand paper.
5) Repeat and continue stepping down until you are at @ 900 or even 1200 grit. Especially the fiber glass. We want to make sure we get ALL the chips, splinters, cracks, or blemishes out of the glass.
6) Obtain after market replacement decals if desired and available. But don't put them on the bow until after the first two or three coats of finish.
7) Clean entire bow well with denatured alcohol and let dry well.
8) Write the bow's spec info back on the bow. Wear cotton glove liners. Avoid finger prints and oil from your hands and fingers.
FINISHING
I have used several different spray finishes in aerosol cans. Some with very good results and some with very disappointing results... My favorite is the Min Wax Poly Clear in the Blue can. Its expensive - @ 9 bucks a can and you will need at least 2 cans but it is flexible enough when dry to be used on a bow. The Semi Gloss is fine. Shake the can frequently thoughout finishing and between coats.
The same stuff in a pint or quart can used in a professional air compressor spray gun is good stuff too. Perhaps you know someone with a wood shop or paint shop who will let you use his paint room and/or equipment or might simply spray the thing for you...
1) I hang the bow from one limb tip using floss or fishing line in a loop around the string grooves.
2) Spray very light, multiple coats of finish. Don't worry about missing spots. You'll get them on the next pass. When I say multiple coats, I mean 10 or 15 very light coats. This is not a quick process. Don't hold the can too close to the bow while spraying. You want each of the coats to be more of an "overspray" than a "direct spray". This will prevent runs and build ups.
3) Use long, even strokes up and down the length of the bow. Let the finish dry somewhat between coats.
4) When you have used the first can, let the finish dry and harden for at least 3 days before starting the second can.
5) On day 4, GENTLY wipe the bow down with 000 steel wool. Wear cotton glove liners or hold the bow with a cotton handkerchief to do this so you avoid getting oil and prints from your hands and fingers on the bow. Make sure you don't leave steel wool splinters on the bow. Wipe down with clean cotton cloth (maybe a cloth diaper)to remove steel wool shavings.
6) Repeat steps 1 through 4.
7) On Day 8, repeat step 5 using 0000 steel wool this time and you are done.
Anyway, that's how I have done it in the past. Works for me.
If there are any re-finishing gurus out there with more knowledge and experience and better techniques in mind, please speak up. I am a self taught re-finisher and I don't mind (and do appreciate) getting tips and guidance from those who know more about it than I do.
Timber Ghost thats pretty dang good in a nutshell!
2 tips
Instead of steel wool, use the green plastic scrubbie's, no steel wool splinters/dust to mess with.
Use a cabinet scaper or back of a knife to remove originial finish, this one saves a lot of time.
Have fun refinishing it
Green Plastic Scrubbies... Never though of that Kurt! Thanks Dude!
wow thats a trip........bd
Don
Thats not a trip, that is the straight dope from the man.( or should I say the Doctor?)
Donnie
That comes from one of those guru types that help lotsa folks out
only thought I have is I've never had a draw weight reduction.If there is a bit of reduction from removing the original finish it should return to scale weight once there is new finish put on ??? bd
bd, he was recommending sanding out all blemishes in the glass.
QuoteWe want to make sure we get ALL the chips, splinters, cracks, or blemishes out of the glass
Depending on what the blemishes are, that could reduce the weight considerably and would need to be done evenly across the whole limb. Not something a beginner would/should be doing.
I'm with you, removing the original finish and repairing any blemishes shouldn't reduce the weight, as you're not removing glass.
Ryan, a simple refinish is relatively easy to do. A really excellent job refinishing... well, that's something else entirely :)
Agreed. I edited my post to say, "a lot of sanding may reduce the draw weight". I lost a couple of pounds off of my old Bear Black Bear by refinishing it multiple times - had to learn somewhere...
Good advice. I'm in the process of refinishing a Ben Pearson Hunter. I have the riser fully sanded and I'm working on the glass.
Can you buy cabinet scrapers at local hardware stores, etc. or do you pretty much have to order them? Would the back edge of a piece of hack saw blade work?
I have a much simpler method than Timbergost.
Ship it to BowDoc or Droptine59, wait about 6 months.
Wallah....done. Easy, huh.
I would have to agree with Papalapin. Knowing me I would kill a bow trying to "refinish" it.
If I had he talent, the patience, and the time, I would do it Timbergost's way, but I know it would not turn out like he, Bowdoc, or Droptine would do it.
I have had good luck using Stanley razor blades as scrapers, you have to be careful though!
Andy
any hardware store should have scrapers.However you do want to be super careful using scrapers to remove finish from the limbs and limb edges.If you have the smallest tinniest splinter that scraper will normaly break them off and thats not so good.And removing corewood and or glass from the edges of the limbs WILL reduce draw weight real fast too.I find it far better to sand the old finish off the limbs.The riser don't matter much as there is a little extra stock on most handle sections.bd
I'll try an add a couple tidbits..
1. When scraping always scrape from the riser to the tip. Going the other way you can snag the end fibers a splinter them out as Doc said.
2. I would try and fill dings with LT before sanding..
Sanding out dings you will reduce the area around the ding to the depth of the ding, and when you refinish it, the surface will be not be flat and smooth..
Functionally it could be compared to cutting a ring your chasing. The whole idea is to remove the finish without removing any glass.
Thanks alot guy. I picked the bow up for 75 bucks and had no knowledge of bows what so ever. i come home and check it out online and boy am i suprised haha. I had a blast bowfishing with it this weekend. ive just been chasing my arrow down cause the water is so shallow. I dont think im gonna be able to bring myself to put a hole in it for a reel tho
Another easy spray on finish/paint is Krylon's clear Fusion. It also has UV protection. It is flexible and wears like iron if left to cure for about a week before use.
It's certainly doable by yourself. Here's a before and after Super K, my first restoration.
Before (notice yellowed finish, white glass all had a yellow hue to it):
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/1971SuperKodiak.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/1971SuperKodiak.jpg.html)
After, coloration pops back in riser and limbs are black again and new decals pop out. I used wipe on Hellsman Water Based Poly on all my restorations and it worked fine. If you have a sprayer, great, but not a requirement for quality looking bow.
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/1971SuperKrefinishedsideview.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/1971SuperKrefinishedsideview.jpg.html)
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/1971superkback.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/1971superkback.jpg.html)
One final comment, it's a good idea to take a picture of the specs if taking the complete finish off the bow, however, if you've printed an extra large picture of it out for reference, keep in mind the scale of the print. I re-inked my specs a little large on the first bow because I was going in reference to the enlarged picture. Otherwise, I was very satisfied.
A third way is I just take it to my knife grinder with a worn out 400 grit belt and finished in 15 minutes...tippit
Drake Hunter Flight...
Before refinish...
(//%5Burl=http://imgur.com/2y61GK3%5D%20%5Bimg%5Dhttp://i.imgur.com/2y61GK3.jpg?1)[/url] [/IMG]
After...
(//%5Burl=http://imgur.com/qRekUBN%5D%20%5Bimg%5Dhttp://i.imgur.com/qRekUBN.jpg?1)[/url] [/IMG]
(//%5Burl=http://imgur.com/GOvoS6P%5D%20%5Bimg%5Dhttp://i.imgur.com/GOvoS6P.jpg?2)[/url] [/IMG]
I haven't actually refinished a bow, but have bought a few that the finish looked pretty bad. I just used some auto finish cleaner to remove the dirt and grime. Then go over that with several coats of paste wax. Makes them look much better. Doesn't take much time. If you then aren't pleased you can go for a real refinish.
Also something you can do to clean up those vintage bows is wipe the bow really well with 90% Isopropyl Alcohol. Take a scotch brite pad and go over the whole bow working out imperfections and scratches. Then take Nu Finish scratch remover and polish it out. You can get really good results with this method and not remove the factory stickers.
The Nu Finish is the same product I have used, just couldn't remember the name. Does a great job of cleaning them up if that is all they need. But leaves most of the character markets.
I'm about to refinish a bow that the previous owner "refinished" by brushing a thick coat of tinted polyurethane on the riser, obliterating the SN, etc. The limbs are yellowed but otherwise in good shape and the silk screens are in good shape, so i am going o try to preserve the silk screens by leaving them in place with VERY light sanding over and around them. I've always sanded by hand in the past but find myself wondering if I would make better progress on the riser , initially, using an orbital sander with a well-worn disc. Anybody every try that?
The riser is Brazilian rosewood so I'm planning on wiping it down with 91 % denatured alcohol and letting that dry before spraying on clear finish.
Mangonboat,
This is a 1959 Kodiak I refinished with hand wiped poly(some of those exotic woods soak up a lot of finish, so start on the handle with a few coats before doing the whole bow in unison). I used a strait razorblade with the spine and bent it to a slight curve to give it a focal point area in the middle of the blade for scraping control. This is a very quick way to remove the old finish from the riser (hold the blade at almost 90 degrees to the bow surface and use short, light strokes)and just follow up with some hand sanding using progressively finer grades fo paper. While original decals are OK to keep for historical value, since you're refinishing the bow anyway, if it's one that Al has decals for, you may like results better applying new decals. This 59 Kodiak has replacement decals on it and I think they look much better than clouded over effect when leaving them in place, but that's just my opinion of course.
Ray
After a couple of coats:
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/006_zpsea318e07.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/006_zpsea318e07.jpg.html)
Original bow (had to replace a tip too):
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/20140203_113814_zpsfb647b2f.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/20140203_113814_zpsfb647b2f.jpg.html)
Close to finishing up with finish. New decals in place and just a couple more coats at this point:
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/004_zps7266a8a9.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/004_zps7266a8a9.jpg.html)
By the way, these bows are way fun to hunt with after you've taken the time to refinish them and bring them 'back to life'. There are many incredible shooters from day's gone by and if you can get one on the cheap at a garage sale or flea market you're going to be a happy camper when it's done and you bag that first animal with a 50 plus year old traditional bow. Lot's of great kids bows being made out there right now too, but if you're on a budget, some of these old bows are cheap in the 30#-40# draw weight and when measured at 24" draws, that's right in the range for a young archer.