primitive bow finishes

[ozy clint]

in keeping with a primitive bow what finishes can be used for selfbows?  i've been using bee's wax on my douglas fir arrows. applied melted then rubbed off. is this suitable for selfbows?

[sailordad]

ive used bees wax as a bow finish and for arrows
love the smell of that bow   
bear grease is supposed to be exceptional natural finish
i would imagine any rendered animal fat would work
bacon grease,lard,crisco etc

only thing i do with them is apply a fresh coat when i plan on using it and one when it gets put away again 

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes on the grease. I heat it  i and then wipe off the excess. Waterproofs well actually. Jawge

[Pat B]

I used hand rubbed bear grease on my yew selfbow I made for hunting. Makes a good finish.  Any animal fat or veg oil should work. If you hand rub it vigorously it will heat up from the friction.

[waterlogged]

Just finished a little plains Indian style yew bow with some pine sap finish. Works well, though it's definitely unique in many ways. Just take fully dry pine or fir pitch (has to be not sticky at all, or else the finish will stay sticky for a long time) and dissolve it in denatured alcohol. Rub on with a cloth, and it creates a surface finish like polyurethane or shellac. I remember reading somewhere that they used it to finish dance floors during time periods, because it was tough and gripping.

[HatchA]

Been wondering about finishes as I'm getting closer to that stage with my osage bow - slowly and steadily.  As it's my first osage (second bow) I'm keeping it simple - no skins or back-covering and I want to use something that will compliment the natural wood colouring throughout the bow's life.  I have a little tung oil but am always keeping an eye out for other possibilities.  Good to know that I could use bacon grease or lard, though I imagine it wouldn't be the most "non-scented" bow to go hunting with

[mullet]

 I've used deer tallow. I hunted 9 days in the rain and the water still beaded up on the finish.

[sailordad]

i dont think mixing pitch with de-natured alcohol is "truly" primitive

as far as a bow smelling from the finish when hunting
if your hunting bears and are using bees wax as a finish,i think that would help attract the bears 
after all the whole bow smells like honey for quit some time after applying it
i have one down stairs that i put bees wax on months and months ago
i take it out to shoot it and it still smells like honey,and its a very noticable odor too

[El Destructo]

Tallow and Bees Wax melted together makes a great Finish...I use this quite often on my Paddle Bows

[wodpow]

That hard fat that I remove from the deer and started off on the wood stove in alittle pot of  water till the fat cooked out then I strained it out and cooked out the water bet you could make candles from that stuff. bees wax  will attract bees also  but works very good as a finish.

[JW_Halverson]

And for those of you that use the bear grease or deer tallow, don't forget to hang the bow up in the smokehole of your teepee every chance you get.  That is one of the usual storage places for the Sioux.  It keeps nice and dry, the dang dogs can't get a hold of that wonderful chew toy that Two Dogs made, and thirdly...the smoke mixes with the fats and adds additional waterproofing from the formaldehyde and formalin in the woodsmoke.  Same reason why well smoked braintan stays so soft and comfy.

[waterlogged]

i dont think mixing pitch with de-natured alcohol is "truly" primitive

Denatured alcohol is at least in spirit primitive: it's just distilled alcohol with some poisons added to it to avoid having to pay taxes when shipping it You could easily use moonshine with little to no difference. It makes a remarkably nice finish, and has a really nice, woodsy smell and is unquestionably waterproof with no additional coats needed.

[ozy clint]

thanks guys. i'll keep with the bee's wax and see how it goes.

[Hillbilly]

I like rendered bear grease or deer tallow for a primitive finish.

[shamus]

Is shellac primitive? It's about a 450+ year-old finish.

If not, then you'll have to resort to grease or beeswax.  Given those two choices, I'd opt for beeswax.