finishing rawhide backed recurve

[econner]

I was trying to figure out how to "clean up" a rawhide backing I did on a static recurve. There were a couple hairs that i couldn't get off during the process of making the hide, so after I glued the backing to the bow I used a propane torch to singe them off in order to try and get a glassy smooth finish. I have more rawhide to use and I just got a fresh skin on the way to becoming backing strips. In order to perfect this finish I want to scrape and or sand the rawhide inorder to get the surface uniform. My fear is that these scuff marks will become permanent. Here's the question - can I go ahead and scrape/sand and then buff out the scuffmarks with a clear shoe polish, then apply poly like normal?

Anybody have experience applying deer rawhide that they made that could help?

[mullet]

  Get some fine steel wool.It will do the trick without scuffing it. Or ,do what Pat does,use Nair.

[econner]

Thanks, That sounds good. I am a little disappointed though, I really liked the shoe polish idea...

[adb]

Hi,
I think, if you apply shoe polish (which is basically wax), the polyurathane, or most other finishes, won't stick. I tried the same thing with a leather rifle sling once, and it turned out horrible.
Sand your rawhide with a very fine paper, and then finish with steel wool. After it hardens (which usually takes more than a week), rawhide is a lot like wood. It's worked good for me. I usually cover my rawhide backings with a nice pair of matched snakeskins.