questions about pine tar finish

[tronman]

Has anyone ever tried a couple applications of 50/50 mixture of pine tar and turpentine and when dry then top it with wax as a finish for their bows?

[donnieonetrack]

I have tried dried pine tar and alcohol with good results.

Don

[adb]

We used to use that stuff on old wooden cross country skis! All I remember is it's sticky, and stinks!

[riarcher]

Pine Tar, Turps, and Linseed with a bit of Jap Drier was an old standard deck coating in the old days.
I used it on a couple of the planked skiffs I made and the stuff is outstanding to look at when it got a "patina" going. Was very water resistant,,, BUT, took forever to dry.
Taking forever to dry was a good thing on a ship's deck. Possibly the original "Non-Slip Deck Paint" of sorts. When it did dry, and things got slippery it was time for another coat.
If the linseed was left out I don't know how that would effect drying. I bet it would look good, but the sticky?
Hmmm, interesting idea though.

[tronman]

Well I tried the pine tar finish. I worked great and finished it off with Tom's 1/3 wax which is a mixture of turpentine, bees wax, and BLO. It does have a distinct aroma but the finish looks nice. It was very effective at bringing out and highlighting the curl in the maple I used.  Sorry for the picture I do not have a digital camera and took this with my cell phone. I will borrow a real digital camera and post better pictures soon.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Pat B]

I have used pine pitch/alcohol finish on arrows but not bows. If you start out with hard, brittle pine pitch and desolve it in alcohol it will dry hard(not tacky or sticky) when the alcohol evaporates.

[JackCrafty]

The pine tar that I have used did not dry completely even after a month or so.  It smelled a little like pine...but it wasn't pleasant.  I've heard that there are various grades of pine tar and that the aromatic type is more expensive.

As a finish, I like Riarcher's formula.  The Jap Dryer seems to be a key ingredient that will make all the difference.