Seal before painting?

[Hawkdancer]

About ready to put finishing touches on the hickory bow.  My thought is to not sand the back as there a couple of "character" bumps and scars I'd like to keep.  I do want to put a green coloring coat and some designs in black to give it hunting bow flair.  I have acrylic paint, and Truoil available.  Is a sealing coat necessary, or can I just have fun painting and lettering, and then seal.  I plan to do the belly with a charcoal rub.  i want a dull or muted finish.  I do plan to put the draw #, and length and sign the belly.  May not be the prettiest girl at the dance, but she's with me!
Hawkdancer

[stuckinthemud]

Usually, when using acrylic, I would say to put in a base colour and flat it back a little then apply top coat(s).  The base colour stops the wood grain showing through the finished colour and makes the top colour deeper - light colours use a white base, mid/dark tones use an orange or red base.

[bjrogg]

Jerry, I've never worked with that combination of paint and sealer. You might want to experiment with a scrap piece first. I personally like to seal first. Then scuff with steel wool. Then paint. It helps to keep the paint from bleeding into the wood. I can get finer lines with it sealed first. I also can sometimes wipe paint off if I screw something up and don't like it. Some paints I like to put a coat of spray on sealer first coat after paint. Sometimes if you use tru oil or even a brush on product it smears your paint. Once you have it sealed you can scuff it and put tru oil over the top.
Looking forward to seeing that girl
Bjrogg

[Pat B]

I'd seal it first too. The moisture in the acrylic paint could raise the grain of the hickory. I use shellac but spray satin poly will too. You'll have to wait a day if you use the poly, maybe 30 minutes if you use shellac. If you put a full(not watered down) base coat you probably don't need a sealer first. Tru-Oil is compatible either way you go.

[ohma2]

Seal it for al lthe reasons patB said .plus if you need to make a paint correction you can repair it easier over the sealer than the bare wood.

[Hawkdancer]

I do have a test strip without sealer, (no sealer on hand), but will get either shellac or satin poly to make a comparison test.  Have to check for some more scrap pieces, too.  Thanks for the help, any other ideas also welcome.
Hawkdancer