refinish an older bow

[larry f]

I have a bow that is twenty years old and want to get it refinished. Anyone recomend someone that  would do a good job?

[Bladepeek]

Absolutely. Check out John Rafferty at the Bow Hospital. He's a sponsor here and does great work.

[Blackhawk]

There is also a lot of info on this site and elsewhere that explains the details of doing the work yourself.  It's easy, and you will be proud of yourself when it's done.

[lpcjon2]

X2 on both suggestions. I did one not to long ago and it is pretty easy.

[tuscarawasbowman]

If you want to do it yourself:   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=005999

[Mojostick]

I have Todd Hill refinish all my bows. In fact, he has 3 old Bears of mine right now and I have 3 others waiting to send him when he ships the first 3 bows.

His name here is copicasso, as in Colorado Picasso. He's a professional "high end" painter/refinisher by trade.

He's done several old Bears for me and his work is equally worthy of the couple 2-3 most well known  bow refinishers, as I have their refinished bows too.

The nice thing with Todd is, the wait time is reasonable and not in years, like a few guys take.

You won't come across a better guy to deal with.

Here's his profile here...
 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile;u=00023114

[stagetek]

bowdoc has done several bows for me. Don does a great job. Sometimes hard to get a hold of...he stays very busy.

[Frank V]

Bowdoc refinished a bow for me several years ago & his work is tops.
Frank

[stagetek]

Rich Lopez does a good job as well, but I haven't seen him post here in quite a while.

[BRIARS]

I have done several. Steel wool to remove the old finish, super fine sand then rattle can with Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane. I like the satin finish and usually apply 3-4 coats.

It really is that easy.

[Goshawkin]

I refinished an old longbow last year.Sanded it down with finer sandpaper each time.sprayed on 4 or 5 coats of Minwax satin poly and finished with Minwax paste wax.Added some skins under truoil a little later.It came out pretty good.I want to do another just to get better at it.

That said,I have another more expensive bow that needs to be redone.I think I'm going to send that out for a 2 part epoxy finish by someone that really knows what they're doing.

[Ray Lyon]

The Bow Hospital is a sponsor here and they're well recommended. If you're shipping out that's a good place to go.  Rich Lopez (droptine59) does a great job and his website has lots of tips if you decide to do your own     http://www.droptinetraditions.com/php/    
 
Rich and Nick McDade (tuscarawasbowman here on Tradgang) have given a lot of tradgangers a lot of help on refinishing tips for us do it yourselfers on the History/Collecting forum here.  So that said, if you've got some time, patience and ability to follow directions, you could redo a bow yourself.  I did (followed the bow restoration 101 document, see Tradgang History/Collecting forum) and I'm more than pleased with the results.
Here's the prefinish version of my 1971 Super K. Note the yellowed finish color and the spot where the old stick on rest I peeled off from the Berger Button hole had removed the bow finish.

      and here's the finished version

     

Here's the refinished front view with new decal in place. If I had a prefinished picture, you'd be able to see how much the white glass on the riser overlay had yellowed. It's amazing how much different it is.  I used a wipe on satin polyurethene as I don't have a fancy spraygun, but I'm very pleased with the results. Everything I encountered is addressed in the bow restoration topic or topics on droptinetraditions site with pictures and easy to follow instructions.

   

 
This was not a straight refinish job. It included removing an ill placed Berger button insert and plugging that hole. The new rest plate on the bow covers the hole on one side and the new coin (which was half drilled away by the Berger Button hole) covered part of the plug on the back.   Bear coins are availible from 3 Rivers and decals are availible from a reference on Droptinetraditions website from Al Harford.  This project took me about 20 hours and there was a learning curve, but I'm so pleased with my finished product (I'm a 10 thumbed accounting person with little do-it-yourself building talent). The only mistake I made was taking a picture of the serial number and bow specs and using a blown up copy to reink on the refinished bow. My final print came out larger than the original and I didn't notice till I looked at comparison pictures.

Here's the results-a spike buck taken from the ground in the Michigan late bow season.  

   

So if you're shipping out, contact the Bow Hospital (sponsor support). If it's a unique bow (59 Kodiak needing special attention) I'd say Rich Lopez at droptinetradition.  If you're feeling adventuresome-do it yourself!    

[tuscarawasbowman]

Wow Ray I hadn't seen the buck picture. That is awesome!!!

[Ray Lyon]

Thanks Nick for taking the time to put together that refinish document. It made it all possible.  Also, at 43#, that quiet old bow is a joy to shoot in the cold late season hunt when deer are on pins and needles from being hunted for 2 1/2 months.  There was a snow storm coming on (there was no snow on the ground when I went out in the afternoon) and he was heading for the drops in the apple orchard 50 yards away from this photo.