First time working with Maple...questions

[Arrowind]

I've started my first bow using Maple.  (Hard Maple) Not sure the exact species.  I got a board from a specialty hardwood store here in town. 

It's beautiful wood.  My question is about tiny little scratches in the wood and getting them out.  I sanded out the tool marks with 60 grit sand paper, and have used a rough sanding block (sponge) then a fine sanding block.  (I think it is equal to 320 grit but I'm not sure.)  The wood is really smooth to the touch and almost like glass.  My concern is that I can still see really small scratches at certain angles of light.

My biggest concern is that the bow came in 5#'s under target weight.  I'm used to hickory and when I cut the rough dimensions out with the bandsaw I thought I was leaving enough weight in the bow....I was wrong.  I had very very very little room for tillering.  I'm lucky I didn't ruin the whole thing or turn it into a 20# bow.....

I need to get the scratches out without dropping the draw weight if possible.  They are so small and almost invisible but I'm betting once I start putting a finish on it with a dye they are going to stand out...

Any recommendations on getting them out?  My guess is that I jumped to the fine sanding too soon and need to do some intermediate sanding like 100, 220, etc. I bought some 600 and it is really fine but I have not been able to get the scratches out, though I have not tried really hard either.

This bow is going to be a gift for my brother's birthday so I want it to be extra nice.  Enough rambling...  Any suggestions?

[bubby]

how long is your bow, if ya can pike itan inch each end you will raise the #, then use a scraper to get those marks out, a pocet knife will work, maple makes a really nice bow, post some pics, Bub

[Arrowind]

Thanks bubby. I hadn't even thought about that.  I was considering trying to flip the tips but I've only done that a few times with other bows and frankly I'm not confident in my abilities enough to try it with this one. The bow is 66" tip to tip. 45# at 28".   I was shooting for 50#.  I'm  okay with 45# but I really don't want it to be less than that.

I'm actually embarrassed to even post the question because it seems like getting scratches out of wood is so basic and straight forward but since I'm running out of time and still have a LOT of work to do on the finish I'm feeling some pressure... my "perfectionist" side starts to kick in and I start to worry about every little step in the process...and I don't seem to think straight. 

Normally my attitude is..."If it breaks I'll just make another one.." and that frees my mind to work away with little concern but when I'm trying to do the very best I can and on a timeline....I start worrying about making mistakes way too much...

[DarkSoul]

Taking the scratches out, comes at the cost of a few pounds of drawweight - depending on the depth of the scratches.

You might be able to heat treat the belly to gain some drawweight again Shortening a 66" bow is not wise, probably. It's already relatively short for a 28" draw, so shortening it may break it or increase set.

[hillbilly61]

 You can pike the bow and pick up some weight as bubby said. You have plenty of length.  Double your draw plus 10% (i think it's 10% I know it's not more)That gives you a 62" bow. Just go slow.

[toomanyknots]

"Taking the scratches out, comes at the cost of a few pounds of drawweight - depending on the depth of the scratches."

To take care of this problem I use 2 rasps. One is the smooth side of my tractor supply co. farriers rasp. The other is some some smooth file rasp (I don't know the grades but it gets it to the consistency of almost like after using 100 - 150 grit sandpaper at a thousandth percent of the time.). You can use these two rasps real quick after each tiller check, and it only takes a little bit, so after your done tillering you only have to run it over with some 150 and the tiny scratches that are left are out. What I actually do though is finish tillering the bow with the smooth side of my farriers rasp, then get all of em out with the finer file. Then tiller check again, and fix any problems with the finer file. Then sand it with 150, and fix any tiller problems with the 150.

[George Tsoukalas]

It's too late now but you can alternate rasp with scraper to keep the scratches down - 20 passes with the rasp followed by 10 or 20 with scraper. Once I string it I stick with the scraper. I actually use a Swedish push knife as a scraper. If they are not too deep leave the scratches.  But to answer your question I  sand with 220 grit. Then I dampen the wood with a moist paper towel to raise the grain, let dry and sand. Repeat until the grain is no longer raised. Lightly sand with 320, 400 and 600. Jawge

[Arrowind]

Thanks guys.  I really appreciate the help.  The scratches are so small you can't really see them even in natural light unless you hold it just at the right angle to the light.  I'm tempted to just finish it up...but I'm afraid I won't be able to get it out of my head and will be disappointed for not having taking the extra care to make it as close to perfectly smooth as i can for this particular bow.  Once I give it away it's gone and that's it...

I guess I need to make a decision...

To make it worse I just finished up a bow for my older brother and it turned out pretty good.  My two other brothers saw it before I gave it to him and I could tell they were a little jealous...my younger brother has no idea I'm making him one... I can't give it to him unless it's at least as good as the one I gave our older bro.  I want them to think they each got the better bow.  sigh.    I don't think I have time to start over. 

[bubby]

man your brother is gonna be so jacked about his new bow that you built for him, he anit gonna notice a few scraches, finish it up and post some pics, let us see it, Bub

[ken75]

what about burnishing that might smooth things up without reducing weight . if the scratches are that tiny a good olive bottle treatment might help

[Arrowind]

well I went back and did some more sanding.  I got out a lot of scratches and dropped ended up dropping the weight just a few lbs.  It shoots great and I think he'll like it.
I put a finish on and I can still see plenty of scratches that I didn't even know were there...   Oh well. I'll do better next time.  Once I finish up the handle I'll post it.

Thanks for all the comments.