I just traded for a bow that came from a smoker.
How you get rid of the smell on the bow?
I'd gently wipe it down with PineSol.
clean it up real good and change the leather handle if it has one. If its a sealed bow it shouldn't hold that much smell but the grip will.
It has a beaver tail grip. Where can I get another one?
I would place an ad in the classifieds in the "Bow Making Supplies"
Black Widow sells beaver tail grips.
Murphy's oil soap. Caribow custom archery might have some beaver tail grips.
If you got time leave it on a screened in porch and it will clean itself with freah air.
Try a baking soda paste on the beavertail.Works for everything else.
Clean the whole thing with Simple Green, then use saddel soap on the grip. It will be as good as new!!
I would either keep the beaver wrap and clean it as suggested above or get rid of it, but I wouldn't replace it just because it has been exposed to smoke. If the beaver tail holds the smell of smoke, it will also hold the smell of a sweaty palm. Smoke won't spook a deer nearly as bad as human scent.
A good cleaning, then fresh air and time. Really air and time alone can do wonders.
Good luck. I tried a lot of remedies and the only thing to work was time... months of it.
Clint, I suspect he isn't worried about spooking deer so much as not liking the way the bow smells to the archer. When I got my bow it stunk so bad I could hardly hold it.
Guy
I got two bows a while back that I washed thoroughly and it still took almost a year to get rid of the odor. No offence to smoker's by the way.
We just bought a table from some people that smoked. It was covered in that yellowish film and smelled like smoke. We used Murphy's Oil soap and I honestly can't smell or see any remnants.
-Charlie
Thank guys, Clint I'm not worried about spooking deer so much as not liking the way the bow smells to the me. I quiet smoking 12 years and now I don't mind the smoke smell it's self but it is the stale smell it leaves on things, if that makes sense.
Howard
I bought a WW1 rifle from a friend who lived in a smoking house and the rifle reeked for a while. It went away after time. I'd just clean your bow and let it air out for a while, handle and all.
Do you guys also avoid sitting around camp fires? :o ) Just kidding! I know many people can't tolerate cigarette smoke at all. I've never been a smoker but I never minded being around smokers. Back in the '80s, I was always the guy with the "buffer zone" cubicle between a smoker and a non-smoker. This arrangement kept the peace for a while. Sometime during the '90s, the smokers were banished to smoking outside the building. I used to hunt with a guy who actually smoked while he was on the hunt. That's why I know it doesn't run off all of the deer.
You got to be kidding me, your sense of smell is that good, if I ever took a dump at your house you would probably have to call hazmat....stabow
Not quite sure what you mean there, stabow.
If you're trying to say that you're surprised people can smell items from a smoker's home... all I can surmise is that your sniffer is broken. It's a pretty obvious odor and it sticks to stuff like you wouldn't believe.
Guy
Ranger,
I know what you men about the smell of a burning cigarette vs the old stale smell. I actually like the smell when a cigarette is first lit and I don't smoke. I have seen deer walk in to "investigate" while a family friend was hunting with a crossbow and smoking. More than once he had to put down his cigarette to shoot a deer.
Also, deer aren't afraid of the smell of smoke around here. I intentionally stand in the smoke of a fire for cover scent. It has always worked where deer are used to campfires. I learned that from some African hunters I saw on a video. They burnt elephant dung and stood in the smoke. Go figure?
-Charlie
Grey
I agree that cigarettes stink, but all odors dissipate over time. Or maybe my sniffer is broke......stabow