Refinishing a Bow

[Otsokos]

I bought this bow for $41.00 on ****. I want to be able to shoot it, and also, make it look nice.
Unfortunately, I am suffering from paralysis by analysis, there are so many opinions about what do, what to use, or not use, that I really don't know where to start. Also, I haven't had much success with steel wool and wood projects, I will stay away from that. >>>PICS>>>      
Thanks a lot.

[LittleBen]

I'd probably try to strip the old finish with something. Then sand the wood parts up to 220 or 400 grit, and I'd probably only very lightly sand the fiberglass with fine grit paper to prepare it for a new finish. Then apply your finish of choice. In a nutshell. Hopefully others will have more thoughts.

[Otsokos]

I coated the entire bow with Formby's Paint & Poly Remover. It took a lot of the old finish off. I put another coat of Formby's on, letting it sit.

[BigJim]

Be real careful using finish stripper. Some will severly damage bow if allowed to sit...unfortunately I learned this early on.

Bigjim

[KenH]

Hope that bow is still together.  I'd have cleaned it first with Ajax, water and a plastic scrubby pad.  Looked more dirty than anything...

[jhk1]

x2 what BigJim said-- I'd avoid chemical finish strippers.  The only chemicals I've used to help remove finish are denatured alcohol and acetone.  On old varnish, sometimes I get pretty good results with very fine steel wool and denatured alcohol.  If the alcohol isn't cutting it, I sometimes then try acetone with the steel wool (acetone is nastier than the denatured alcohol, so if alcohol works I go with that).  A lot of times I just use fine sandpaper (300-400 grit) instead of any chemicals.  The bottom line is that any of the above methods take some elbow grease, but sometimes the steel wool with alcohol or acetone gets the old finish off quicker.

I've found that the better quality 3M sandpaper (has kind of a brick-red sanding surface; says something like "lasts 3X longer..." on the package) works much better and lasts lots longer than cheap stuff.  The 3M paper really sands better (the abrasive "cuts" better) than lower quality stuff.  It seems to me like I can use a 300 to 400 grit in the 3M paper and it works faster (yet gives the appropriate smoothness) than 200 grit cheap stuff.  The roughest grit I'll use in the good 3M paper is 220 grit, and I usually use that just on the finish on the wood.  Usually 300-400 grit is what I use to remove finish from the glass (sometimes I'll use the 3M 220 grit on the glass if the finish is thicker).

[Otsokos]

Some update photos. Thanks for the help.
So after the varnish remover, I took some 400 wet/dry and wet sanded all over. I went and got some tung oil and some spray spar urethane. I have 3 coats of oil so far, 12 hours between and 0000 steel wool in between.  Also got a string for it, I haven't pulled it to full draw but the scale at the bow shop put it about 65 ...
   

[Otsokos]

This is how it came out. There aren't any markings on it, and I think the JC Higgins stamp on the leather was from a baseball glove. Anyway, I like it the way it came out.  Thanks for suggestions.
 
             

[fujimo]

good job!