refinishing a Bear laminate recurve

[luke the drifter]

here is my situation.  a friend brought me a 64 inch, 57pound Bear laminate recurve bow and ask me about refinishing it, putting a different style handle, and a floppy rest.  the pictures i took seems to show only that the finish only has started to lift off.  it is a osage laminate bow with fiberglass backing and belly.  any ideas on how to take the finish off and put new on?  what kind of finish would be acceptable?

[mullet]

 Luke you can lightly sand it and then spray with Poly Urethane or rub on True Oil. What year is this bow? Would your friend be interested in tradeing it for another Bear before you destroy the value of an old one chopping the handle? It sounds like one from the  50's l. Do you know what model it is?

[Kent D.]

I refinished an old 1978 Herters recurve a while back.  The finish was starting to crystal, so it was real easy to take off.  I just used a dull knife and scraped it off.  I am refiishing an old Person Javelina for a kid.  It was broke in half, so i built a new riser for it and lightly sanded the finsih on the glass down smooth.  Shot it with some poly and she looks good as new.

[mullet]

As long as you don't get carried away and sand off too much of the finish, Poly works real good. I've finished 3 so far. If you need new decals PM me and I can give you somebody's email and address that reproduces bear decals.

[luke the drifter]

i thank you for the information.  will sanding the finish off the fiberglass backing hurt the fiberglass?  i also noticed the finish having lifted in what looks like lines going down the limb of the bow.  i looked at it closely and did not notice if they were actual cracks in the fiberglass.  would that be an issue?  by the way it is an old family heirloom that in my opinion was not taken care of properly but he does not want to get rid of it and wants to shoot a deer with it.  i took pictures of it and thought i got close enough to get the model number.  i am only guessing that it said--MA423.  does that ring a bell?

[mullet]

 Just sand enough to smooth the glass. Don't sand down into the fiber. The longitudal cracks are just stress cracks, they don't hurt anything. But, you might not be able to cover them up. Don't try to sand them out, though.

 That number is the serial number. The model will be written on the limb; Kodiak, Kodiak Special, Grizzley. If it is osage he should really think hard before you gring the handle. If it is an osage,"Grumly", he will be crieing when he finds out how much it "used" to be worth before the Floppy rest and modifications. If you can send me some pictures or post them I'd be glad to help Identify it.

[sailordad]

If hes got pics,hes gotta post them 

[mullet]

 Also, if the glass has actually splintered and lifted, glue it down with Loctite super glue and clamp it overnite. Then sand it smooth.