Will spray poly hold over beeswax? One last question on page 2....

[Holten101]

Step 1: I rub on 100% beeswax with a piece of leather, you have to rub hard so that friction warmth melts the wax for an even distribution. You can leave it at that...but it wont have penetrated the pores and will only protect agains light showers. You bow will now have a glassy luster and fell a bit like plastic to the touch.

Step 2: At this point (after first application) I fully heat threat the belly of my bows. This liquifies the wax and it penetrates quite deep. Afterwards the bow feels like wood again, but it will bead water. At this point I do step 1 again. You dont need to do a full scortching heat threatment...but a simple, quick liqufidation with a hair dryer gives a poorer result imo.

Just my experience with wax....take it or leave it;-)

Cheers

[Ifrit617]

I think I'm gonna test both methods on a scrap piece of wood then see what works..

Del will definitely let you know...

Anybody have suggestions on when to paint?

Jon

[Badger]

  I believe that wax is proably the best water repellent, eben better than the poly finsihes. I would try amonia if I wanted to remove it. I believe amonia will disolve most waxes.

[Ifrit617]

I have one last question. I tested the wax finish on a scrap piece of wood, looked real nice. I used my heat gun set at 350 degrees to melt it in. I am concerned however that the heat gun will damage the bow when I heat the wax into the wood. It will only be on a concentrated part of the bow for 1-2 seconds to melt wax in, so no concentrated heating. I can touch the wood immediately after warming the wax in so I know it doesn't get that hot. I don't think it will hurt the bow (I will be waxing belly, back, and sides), but just wanted to make sure.

Thanks.

Jon

[Adam]

I would think you'd be ok if you're keeping the wood cool to the touch.  I have used beeswax as a finish on all my bows so far.  I've never used a heat gun, but have had good success putting the bow out in the sun before and after applying the wax to heat it up a little and I've rubbed with an old peice of leather for friction.  That's always worked well for me.

[Ifrit617]

I used pretty much the same method for the top coat on my test piece but heated the wax into the wood on the other coats to get a deep seal. Seemed to work good. 

Jon