what now? finish for linen bascking...?

[Bob Barnes]

I'm about finished with a BBO and thought I would add some linen that I had...it looks like burlap on the back of the bow now...only a bit finer...what do you guys do as far as a finish...?  Pat?  I did apply a little extra titebond 3 but there is still the burlap texture.  I cleaned the edges with a file, but do you sand the backing or just leave it alone?  Leave it like it is or add a snakeskin..?  stain/dye?
thanks.
Bob

[Pat B]

If you don't mind the appearence just add your finish over the linen. You can paint it or paint a design on it if you don't like the look. I use Tru-Oil on all my bows and with enough coats you can have a smooth surface.

[walkabout]

i usually use tung oil finish for my bows but when i used burlap it was a challenge getting it to work on the burlap. on one of my burlap backed bows i used shellac, and it was pretty simple and turned out ok, although shellac isnt my favorite finish by far. i suppose one could use a spray poly over linen or like pat said tru oil or tung oil with enough coats. i found with burlap a sponge brush brushed across the limb instead of down helped get more finish down in between the burlap than using my finger or going down the length, at least for the first few coats to get good coverage.

[George Tsoukalas]

You can stain and use a finish like a poly over burlap. Jawge

[Rain Man]

For my linen backing, I put a stain on it and then 1 coat of polyurethane over it to finish it off.  It still looks textured but that's fine by me.  Maybe more coats would've fixed that.  However, it could've done without the stain since I had BLACK linen... can't really see a difference in color

[Bob Barnes]

thanks all...it has TB3 under and over it but still feels like burlap...I think a snakeskin is in order...if for no other reason then to make the string slide up and down the bow more easily.
Bob