Wood arrow staining tips needed

[longbow fanatic 1]

I'm looking for tips on how to use two different stains on wood arrows (one color for the area of the shaft which is typically dipped and one color for the forward area of the shaft). My question is; what kind of tape and prep work do you use to prevent bleeding of stain under your tape line? Do you use blue painters tape on the shafts? Does it matter if the stain leeches under the tapeline because that area of the shaft will likely have cresting?

[twigflicker]

Dennis... I've used blue painters tape and other masking tape and have never found a way for it not to "bleed" to some degree...  sometimes it's worse than others for some reason...

Never bothered me as I usually have a crest covering the dividing line anyway...

But I'm curious if anyone has found or uses something in particular to keep it from bleeding from one area to another...

Jonathan

[longbow fanatic 1]

Thanks, Jonathan!

[Mike Vines]

This will help...

 http://www.probowsociety.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2775

[Pat B]

A band of craft paint over the transition area.
I used Krylon spray paint to add a crown using regular masking tape to mask the area off.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Thanks, guys. Mike, great tutorial!

[Terry Lightle]

masking tape

[reddogge]

I was thinking nothing will eliminate bleeding on raw wood. Perhaps stain the cap area one color and the balance another and crest over the area with cresting paint where the bleeding occurred.

[Stumpkiller]

I agree with the blue painters tape.  Or even using a wider crest strip to cover the overlap.  I use leather dyes and permanent markers on my woodies.

Put a crest line (Sharpie marker) on the margin to cover up any bleed through.

 
   
   

[Rough Run]

The green, Frog tape is about the best painter's tape I have found for minimum bleed.

[Kevin Dill]

Well I'm typically more of a true crown dip (paint) guy, but I've done plenty of crown staining in the past. I never worried anything about stain bleed or masking to produce a well defined line...simply because all my arrows get a painted crest and it covers the transition between crown and lower shaft. In many cases I wouldn't even bring the two stain (or paint and stain) colors together...basically leave an area of natural light-colored wood for cresting over. Doing that tends to result in easier crest coverage and yields brighter crest colors.

[wooddamon1]

I do the same as Kevin Dill, sometimes I'll even leave a couple bands of the lighter, unpainted wood showing next to the paint bands.

[Benoli]

I simply dip the point end in a small jar so the transition is at the same place using Fit she in alcohol. They bleed a little bit but that makes them look homemade. The below link has a picture of the first of many.  http://www.tradgang.com/woodies/

[JR Belk]

Arrows don't have to look rough to look homemade or handmade. There's a reason cresting is on the arrow. It's generally to cover up where the stain ends. It bleeds to a degree and there's not much other than good tape to fight that. My caps and main shaft are always stained. It's just part of arrow making to deal with some minor annoyances. Natural materials make you word sometimes.

[Tyler C. Moore]

Kevin Dill has a great method. I just do my best with tape, and then crest on the transition lines.