New at the wood arrow game.What do you wood arrow
builders use to seal your arrows with after staining them.??Do you use a oil or water base stain??Any info would be useful to me..thanks

I spray mine with a fast drying clear lacquer. Been using "Colorplace" spray from Walmart, but they don't carry it anymore. I liked it because it was dry in 5 to 10 minutes, depending on temperature and humidity.

Jim

Daly's Pro-Fin. It's not water based but drys hard and clear.

Raptor dip from Raptor Archery dries fast and no smell.

Dipping my shafts in water just doesn't set right with me and I've found the oil base products to be much more durable and waterproof.  There are several brands of oil base stains and polyurethane that work well.  I use a few different brands of stain, depending on the color wanted: Minwax, Olympic, Zar, Cabot.  For the clear coat, the gloss polys are harder and more durable and waterproof so that is what I use.  Minwax Fast Dry and Zar are the best of the regular polyurethane finishes I've tried.  The spar finishes are OK, but softer than the regular polys.  You can wipe them on full strength.  If you dip, thin them about 3-4 to 1.

Gasket system for me, 4 coats in a half hour and done!

Forgot about part 2: Strictly water base stain for me.

I use watcos danish oil. stain and seal in one.

Do you dip or rub on your stains and sealers???

3Feathers, I dip mine in a homemade PVC tube and use Dalys Profin. Tried the Min Wax Polycrylic but had compatibility issues and bad target burn. The reason I use a PVC tube instead of the Big Dipper in 3 Rivers is mine only takes 80% of a quart to fill. The Big Dipper takes 1.5 qts and I buy Dalys qt at a time. My tube is 35" of 1" PVC bumped up to 2" at the top so I have room for my fingers and overflow capacity for the displacement of the arrow as it is dipped. When I am done I tip my tube and let it all drain back in the Daly's qt can for next time. I do this cause the Dalys needs to be stirred each time before use. Otherwise I would use the Big Dipper cause it has a screw on lid and I could just leave it in the tube. JMHO

I rub on with Minwax polyurethane. Have had no problems whatsoever.

I am also a big fan of Dalys Profin. $$ but the stuff is great. I use the PVC on the longer dips(full shafts) and a little dipper just for the crest or foots sealing. Duco really sticks to it. I have been smelling the stuff all week!

I soak my shafts in a homemade PVC tube in Watco Danish oil for days at a time, topping it off nightly as they do absorb the oil and in turn gain weight! I dry them for the same amount of days that i soak them, and then do two hand rubbed coats of Spar Helmsman! Its probably not needed, as the Watco is a stain/sealer by itself, but my Duco sticks nicely to it!!!

i had been using cane for arrows , and didnt need to worry about it.

picked up some 5/16 dowels for bunny arrows , and just tested out some minwax stain/poly sealer. bombay mahogany. nice deep red right now , we'll see how it turns out.


if money was no object , 2 ton epoxy it would be...


j/k
-hov

hey Hova,think you could post some pictures of those bunny arrows when your done?interested in seeing how the dowels turn out.

Minwax high gloss polyu is my finish of choice...dipped in a 3:1 ratio of poly:paint thinner. Like liquid glass. A little buffing with some light steel wool to remove the shine, and I'm set...

QuoteOriginally posted by highcountry:
[qb] I am also a big fan of Dalys Profin. $$ but the stuff is great. I use the PVC on the longer dips(full shafts) and a little dipper just for the crest or foots sealing. Duco really sticks to it. I have been smelling the stuff all week!


What is the dry time on a coat of the daly's?  What paint is comnpatable with that for dipping?

QuoteOriginally posted by GWC:
hey Hova,think you could post some pictures of those bunny arrows when your done?interested in seeing how the dowels turn out.

i sure will. they are nothin fancy , just some dowels and some craft store feathers,superglue and some artificial sinew.


workin on some cheap tips. only way they could be cheaper is if they were free...lol...you'll see...


0hov

Bob Burton/Whispering Winds set me on the right path. Dalys sets good at 10 hrs. or so. Color dip is Sherwin Williams lacquer L61. This dries really fast.  DO NOT mix the two! When you dip there will be a small gap between the two which gets overed with the cresting. You can put the Profin over the lacquer or cresting acrylic when they dry. Once the lacquer dries you can put Profin over to bomb proof your cresting and dip color. Sherwin sells about $60 a gallon.

I use alcohol based dyes and MinWax wipe on poly for sealant, about 3 coats.  Hit with 0000 steel wool between coats.