Linen Fraying

[MN-Tommy]

Hey everyone, I'm still working on a linen backed red oak board bow and I have a small problem with the linen.  On the edges of the bow, the linen is fraying.  How do I make it so there's a clean edge?  Also, how do I get the linen to kind of flow with the bow?  

Thank you so much for the help,
Tommy

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I'm using a cotton backing kind of like linen. work from the center out to the tips. Go slow and the try and stay centered. You said Your using a board so you should be centered already...  You'll get a good clean edge when you sand down the bow before putting your finish on.. I am working on another bow and I just started to but the first coat of Tru-oil on now. I'm still at floor tiller, about to put on the long string Saturday or Sunday.

[Shaun]

You can go ahead and put finish on the back, that's not going to be changed as tillering takes place on the belly. Finish will help with the fraying.

[rbbhunt]

I have used cotton material as backing for kids bows and leave the backing slightly oversize, glue it on and the finish with tru-oil.  get the tru-oil well past where you are going to trim.  Trim it with a razor blade after drying.

[blackriverbower]

What I do for linen backing is coat the whole back of the bow in a clear two part epoxy before I cut the linen to shape let it dry over night and trim it to the sides of the bow. Then you can take a file and trap the linen to the back, sand the back. It will turn all white and ugly. Then once you put a finish on it it looks beautiful. Its worth a shot.

[blackriverbower]

ps I glue the linen down with a titebond two and water mix before I use the epoxy let the linen dry a day before you use my trick.