Need help refinishing old recurve

[Ifrit617]

Hey Guys,

I picked up an old recurve at a garage sale that needs refinishing. My plan is to sand off the old finish progressing to about 320 grit, then buffing the bow out with steel wool and applying a new finish of spray on Minwax spar urethane. Would this work okay?

I also heard that the satin version of the finish isn't as durable as the gloss versions, but I would prefer to not use the high-gloss version since this will be a hunting bow. Will the satin work okay?

Any input and advice would be great. Thanks.

Jon

[Steve Clandinin]

Hey Jon,after you've done one you'll see its pretty easy.Many use steel wool,my father and I never did,it does break down and leaves particles on your finish(After many years of furniture refinishing)We use 400 and 600 wet/Dry sandpaper.Use high gloss and for your last coat thourouly wipe down with 600 grit and then automotive rubbing compound to get that low gloss finish,finally a good paste wax.I've used Minwax wipe on Poly for years.Best of luck.

[Ifrit617]

By paste wax do you mean car wax? Also will 400 grit be course enough to remove the old finish? Thanks

Jon

[Bert Frelink]

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=005125
Here you go, this should answer alot of questions for you.
Good luck with your project!!
Bert.

[Steve Clandinin]

Yes,White car paste wax.To get the old finish off I use a mouse sander with around 200 grit.To me the mouse is the best invention since the bow,sure makes things easy.

[Phil Magistro]

The restoration thread linked above will answer a lot of questions.  I use the same finish - automotive clear coat - whether I want a gloss or satin finish.  I've done quite a few bows over the years using all types of spray and wipe-on finishes and have found that this finish works best for me. I don't have a compressor so I cannot use a sprayer.

I sand or scrape the bow, working down to finer grits of sandpaper ending at 400.  Then I spray the bow multiple times wet-sanding with 600 grit between coats.  After the final coat I wet sand with 600, 1000.  If I want a satin finish I stop after 1000.  If I want a gloss finish I wet sand with 2000 grit and polish the bow with auto clear coat swirl remover. If you have a bow with a gloss finish and want to make it satin just go over it with a light rubbing compound.  Works perfectly.

[Steve Kendrot]

The restoration 101 threads have all been removed by the original poster.     :(    There is a guy who will email you the posts copied to a word doc if you really want it.

Phil, Can you describe wet sanding? I'm refinishing a bear takedown and in the old 101 post, bowdoc mentioned wet sanding the raw wood, if I read it correctly. Most other info I've been able to find reference wet sanding finish. I'm unclear on how this is done.

Also, a bit worried about removing finish from limbs. How hard do you sand and how important is it to get all the old finish off? I don't want to lose weight.

[Ray Lyon]

Steve,
I don't remember seeing wet sanding of raw wood in the 101 document.  I refinished a 1971 Super K last summer and took all the old finish off with sanding.  I used 150 grit instead of 100 because I was a little nervous about taking glass off the limbs.  As described in the 101 document, the finish on the Super K's is super hard! I went through a lot of sandpaper (like Phil above, I started with 150 and ended up with 400 on the unfinished bow and then when wet sanding, I started with 600 and ended with 1,500). However, the comment about you'll know when you've got through the finish and are on the fiberglass was true.  The sandpaper had a different sound to it and it was fairly straight forward for me (10 thumbed accountant). I felt it was important to get the old finish off so the new finish ended up clear.  I used Minwax Satin Poly, as I didn't want a super gloss finish on my hunting bow. I only wet sanded after applying a few coats (by hand with a soft cotton cloth wiping on).  

Here's a before picture of my bow. Note the yellowed finish and missing finish where the previous owner had a stick on rest over a self done Berger button (which I removed and plugged hole with hardwood dowel).  When the riser was tapped for the Berger button, they must have drilled from the rest side, because they drilled through the coin on the backside.  I replaced that during refinish.

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Here's a after refinish picture of riser and limbs. The white glass really popped after removing the old finish and the limbs went from a greenish gray to black color.

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And of course here's the finished product in action. A late season MI December hunt and a spike taken from the ground at the start of a snow storm.

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My only regret is when re-inking the bow specs on the riser, I was working from an enlarged picture of the originals and I wrote larger script than the actual (see the difference in the prefinished bow pic). Other than that, I was extremely pleased with the results.

Besides getting a new coin from 3 Rivers Archery, I got new decals from Al Harford (there's a post on the history/collecting forum with his contact).

[SELFBOW19953]

Steve,

Wet sanding is where you dampen the sandpaper throughout the sanding process-dampen, sand until slightly dry, redampen, sand some more, repeat (the same process used when prepping a car).  I use a bucket to dip the sandpaper in, swishing it around to clean the residue out of the grit.   It's best to use wet/dry sandpaper, made to withstand being wet.

[Steve Kendrot]

Ray- your bow looks great. I redid a superK I picked up in a pawn shop a few years ago. Wasn't quite as nice as the job you did, but they do clean up nice. In rereading the 101 document, I see he is talking about wet sanding the finish coats. Although he does mention wet sanding the glass before the first coat of finish, he makes a point about not getting the wood wet. This is a early 80's custom kodiak green stripe I'm working on. I swear the finish is a full millimeter! A real pill to get to bare wood/glass. Especially sanding by hand. I can definitely feel and see when I get through the finish and into the glass. Don't know how much you can get into the glass on the limbs before you start reducing weight.

I'm pretty utilitarian about my glass bows. Probably not going to replace the decals and already sanded off the riser number. The shelf was modified by someone before I got the bow so it's collector value is ruined I'd say. Mostly just want to protect it from the elements.

Phil, thanks for the description.