refinish question

[Jeremy]

I have a pair of old limbs that were in need of a refinish.  The cracking and crazing went all the way down to the bare glass, so now I'm left with the decision to finish it as is, refinish it and hide the lack of a gel coat, or redo the gel coat.

I'm leaning toward one of the latter two options.  Any added benefits to redoing the gel coat over just hiding the lack of it?

Any suggestions on doing the gel coat?

[d. ward]

Hey Jeremy I'am not certin there is gel coat on those limbs.Gel coat is more of a releaseing agent devit filler sorta..The fuller was somewhat thick on most all of Bears limbs and when it goes bad it looks really bad.Myself I would just strip the limbs of all the original finish and then give them a light sanding on the bare fiberglass and they should come out looking pretty near new.Would you have a pic or two maybe...bowdoc

[Jeremy]

Thanks bd... wasn't sure what to call the stuff.  Sanding down I can see where the finish ends and the schtuff begins.  It's about 3x the thickness of the finish and is black.  Sanding down through that gets me to the very dark gray glass where I can see the 'grain'.  I put two quick coats of wipe on poly and it still definitely looks gray and grainy.

[d. ward]

Hey Jeremy would those happen to be the newer type Bear limbs ???? bd

[Jeremy]

yup, from '98