Silk backing over leather dye???'s

[jeffhalfrack]

 Hey  guys I just finished a short flat bow out of perfect hickory!  it's in good tiller and shot in I dyed it w\fiebling's alcohol dye  dang-it! I've bonded with it and I didn';t think it needed a backing?  but now I'd like a little piece of mind.  Question is  is silk and titebond III after dye (no finnish yet) a possibility???  I useually would have done it before dye,,,  just wondering thanks a bunch JeffW

[Onebowonder]

Excellent question!  I had some trouble with a silk backing recently that I think was because of the glue (TB3) not liking the super smooth surface of the back I was gluing it to, but that is just a guess.  I peeled of the silk, sanded the back a bit to roughen it up a bit, and applied new silk.  It seems to be holding well this time.  I don't know that this applies to your circumstance though.  

I'll be watching the answers you get and hope to get some insight as well...

OneBow

[PatM]

leather dye provides a poor gluing surface. It is basically like deliberately contaminating a surface and then trying to apply glue.

[Cameroo]

Jeff, if you are dead set on backing it as you describe, you could try dying a sample piece of wood and glue it up just to test it.

[jeffhalfrack]

  No  I'm not dead set on it   I just really like this thing    I'm going to try a new Finnish on this one  called  "Arrow wood Finnish" I got it at a gun show it's looks good ,  my buddy who's a science teacher and wood bow builder  was so impressed he bought two kits and gave me one and said "We're done looking for Finnish for good now" but I'm still listening to you guys thanks JeffW