Staining Osage

[habph2]

I'm about to start a osage bow. I want to use it for hunting, so I want it to be reasonably dark. What stain do you guys recommend?

[Pat B]

If you build it now it will naturally darken by hunting season. The color of a bow has less chance of being seen than your movement in the stand. Deer are basically color blind plus nature has every color in it and none scare or alert deer like movement does.
 Fiebings leather dye is what many use to stain osage.

[Hillbilly]

x2 on the Fiebings.

[servicebeary]

yah, osage bows get almost black over time, but I think it's directly related to sunlight exposure.  I have one that's a years old and I kept it in a dark closet, and it's still pretty orange, and one of my friends always keeps his in a gun sock because he also loves the orange color.  It is one of the many reasons people chose osage after all

[TheWildCat]

   I just finished a Osage Self Bow. I stained it with a Fiebing's medium brown leather dye. Applied over the Osage Orange, gives a real rich reddish brown color. I became familiar with it, followin Gordon's build along on this web site. I learned a lot from that build along, and still go back to it fer a refresher once in a while.

[medicinewheel]

permanganate work good, too!
I won BOM with an osage bow stained very dark back in Dezember, maybe you want to check on that one...

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,16577.0.html

[George Tsoukalas]

If you use pot. perm. wear gloves as it will also stain your hands. I never stain osage. Jawge

[medicinewheel]

If you use pot. perm. wear gloves as it will also stain your hands. ...

YES!!!

[habph2]

Thank you for the info. I think I'm going to keep natural. Excuse my naivety, do you seal the bow tru-oil or spray on sealer? I've made one red oak and two Ipe/Hickory backed bows and sealed them with Deft.

[ricktrojanowski]

I use water based Aniline dye.  You can get it in many colors in powder form from woodworking catalogs.

[George Tsoukalas]

habph2, I use 3 coats of Tru Oil to seal the pores. I then give osage 3 coats of spar urethane. Jawge

[Postman]

good luck,habph2,  but anyone else reading this,

DO NOT go to the drugstore to buy permanganate, as it recommends  in "hunting the osage bow"

those days are over, and they get kinda freaked out. Evidently it's an explosive.

[HoBow]

You will be able to get pot perm from any chemical distributor, but only in 50 lb bags.

[medicinewheel]

good luck,habph2,  but anyone else reading this,

DO NOT go to the drugstore to buy permanganate, as it recommends  in "hunting the osage bow"

those days are over, and they get kinda freaked out. Evidently it's an explosive.

WHAT?? ...Man, what's not an explosive these days?? - Do NOT produce sawdust, that's an explosive, too.