Bow finish

[Jobby]

Hello, I have just finished making my first bow. It is a red oak longbow and I am wondering what to use to put on it to finish it. Do I need a protective coating? I would like to make it dark brown can I use a plain old wood stain? and what is the process? thank you.

Jobby,

[Morgan]

Congrats on the first bow. Hopefully first of many. You can use any of the stains, rit dye, etc. Finish with boiled linseed oil, rendered fat, true oil etc. we'd love to see pics! I find it more difficult to take a good pic of a bow than it is to make the darn thing.

[Hawkdancer]

Job by,
Congratulations!,  there are a number of dark oak stains on the market, you can also make your own,
I think Mullet recommended boiling walnut hulls to get a good brown.  Post some pictures!  I am getting ready to make the first cuts on my hickory stave, as soon as I make a "bow bench".  So hopefully I will be able to post pis by December.  Elk season and radiation treatment gets in the way!
Hawkdancer

[chamookman]

Use the stain of Your choise, I always used Spar Urathane in a rattle-can for finishing  very durable ! Bob

[Jobby]

Here it is. I had a better photo but it said it was too large so here we are.

[paoliguy]

Congratulations on your first bow, bet it's not your last!

I used shoe polish on a board bow recently and was pretty happy with the results.

[willie]

Nice first bow, (not all of us got to shoot our first bow) . Will you be making your own arrows?

I like the shoe polish idea, sounds like an easy to blend some different shades

[Jobby]

I will be trying to make my own arrows. I am currently working on a new bow and will post as I go.

[upstatenybowyer]

Congrats on your first! I like tung oil mixed with a little mineral spirits. 

[Weylin]

welcome to the addiction. I use fiebing's leather dye to stain my bows and tru oil to finish them.

[Pappy]

Nice job young man, very nice work especially for you first. Welcome. I always seal with gun stock tru oil but there are alot of finishes that will work just fine.
 Pappy

[Jobby]

Thanks everyone.

[LittleBen]

The easiest I've found is polyurethane ... spray it on from a rattle can or wipe it on with a rag. A few coats is all it takes.

Or you can use any oil based wood finish like linseed oil, tung oil, tru oil (which is varnish and tung oil blend I think). I've even used beeswax mixed with olive oil (heated until it melts into the olive oil, pour into jar, let cool and it's a paste). The beeswax mix smells good too.

Hard to beat the ease of use, minimal time, and moisture protection of an outdoor rated polyurethane like spar urethane.

[DuBois]

I been using tru oil mostly but did order my own variety of shellac buttons and plan to give them a go soon.

Congrats on the nice bow by the way. What are the wraps on upper limb?

[Jobby]

Thanks and those wraps on the top limb is just the exes string. I have not gotten or made a proper string yet. some of the pictures that I try to post are too big how do I fix this?