Need tips on Danish oil soak

[Flesner]

I have some POC soaking now. How long should they soak. How long do they need to dry after.
Do I need to apply a finish?
What finish works? Glue?

I know PA had an article on this a while back but darned if I could find it.

Any advice appreciated.

I tried that-- arrows gained some weight and looked really good but I had trouble with the glue. If I do it again I think I'll spray poly over it or dip in lacquer.

[recurve_shooter]

There was an article about this in TBM a couple issues back.  I soaked some laminated birch shafts in a Minwax resin-based product (I think it was called wood stabilizer, but not sure).  I was impressed with the wt gain, between 35 - 50 grains per shaft.

I think the article says you can expect more wt gain with the oil soak, but it also needs to soak longer and dry longer, up to a week for each step.  

Not sure about the finish, but hope this helps.

[Orion]

On an 11/32 shaft, you can expect an average weight gain of about 50 grains if you let them soak for about a week.  Add another 10-20 grains if you have 23/64 shafts. If you have Rose City shafts and not ACME premiums, which are no longer made but there are some still around, you may not have to soak them as long because Rose City doesn't put as hard a polished finish on their shafts.  If you have the shafts in an enclosed container, say a piece of pvc pipe, it's a good idea to tip them end for end every day or so and maybe shake them up a little to aid osmosis.

Once you take them out of the oil, wipe them off and let them dry for at least two weeks.  Even longer is better.  If you don't let them dry that long, additional finish or glue may or may not adhere well.   Lightly steel wool to take off any oil runs/gobs, etc., that may have dried on the surface

You don't need to coat them with another finish, but I have done so to increase the weight even more.  For example, one dip in fletch-lac adds about 10 grains.   I'v used both fletch-lac glue and Duco cement  for fletching on the oil only shafts with good results, but that's always with very dry shafts.  I've had fletch lac finish peel from the shaft on the first six inches of the arrow after a lot of shooting into foam and other targets.   Good luck.

[Friends call me Pac]

I tried soaking birch shafts in danish oil and was impressed with the weight gain. I soaked the shafts for a week and let them dry for a week. The non soaked shafts weigh 344 gr and the soaked shafts came out at 498 gr.  

I'm shooting 165gr up front for best flight from my 43# bow.  The heavy shafts ended up around 15.7 grains per inch of shaft.  They fly straight but drop very fast at 20 yards compared to my untreated shafts.  

I really like the ease of the oil soak for staining and sealing but I also want the arrows to weigh about 50 gr less.  I know I can use a lighter head but that will throw my spine off and the 165 gr head flys about perfect for me.  

Has anyone soaked for less than a week for a slighter weight gain? I'm guessing that is the answer but thought I would ask before experimenting.

[Bud B.]

When you guys soak the arrow shafts what device do you use? Do you have a homemade PVC type of tube or something else?

[Hood]

Where do you find the Danish Oil?

[Bud B.]

It's stocked at Lowe's or Home Depot and other hardware stores.

[Friends call me Pac]

Originally posted by Bud B.:
When you guys soak the arrow shafts what device do you use? Do you have a homemade PVC type of tube or something else?

I used a 1.5" pvc pipe capped on the bottom and it has a screw on lid on the top.  I didn't count the shafts I put in there but it was around 15 or so.

My arrows are 28" so I made the tube 30". One quart of oil filled the tube and kept the shafts submerged.  I did have to add a few ounces from a second can after the 1st day but didn't have to add any after that.

I tip the tube upside down a few times a day and the oil will leak from the threads.  I'm sure some teflon tape would take care of that but in the meanwhile I just made sure my tipping was over the sink.

If any oil gets on the countertop or sink and dries it gets pretty hard to scrub off.  I used barkeeper's friend scouring powder from Lowe's and it removed the oil very quickly when used with a sponge.

[Jerry Gille]

Are you making me some arrows again Kev?

Many years ago Brad Martin walked me through his process.  He made up a "T" out of pvc and filled through the top.  That way he didn't have to flip the pipe to get good coverage.  He never put a sealer on top and fletched after they dried with duco.  He did say that they seemed to take forever to dry and he also experienced some weight loss as they were drying I think.

That's about all I know.  Good luck with it.  You screw it up a few times and get all the bugs worked out then call me when you have it figured out.  I'll take it from there...