Best finish for juniper selfbow??

[ZSL]

So I built a 68" un-backed rocky mountain juniper bow it ended up at about #60 @ 29".  I finished it with a minwax natural wood stain and then several coats of aerosol poly urethane. I've been shooting it for a while with no issues, but I've heard that just straight tung oil or linseed oil may be better long term...Should I remove the poly urethane and refinish it with something else? Any help would be appreciated!

[LittleBen]

I would definately not remove poly unless absolutely necessary, ever. Tung-oil or linseed oil are going to give you significantly less protection than polyurethane.

I like a classic oil finish for a nice gun stock .... But unless you're going for a really classic look, linseed oil is just not worth the trouble IMO.

I use poly for all my bows (or nearly all) and I wouldn't trade it for linseed or ting oil if you paid me.

Less coats for more protection with poly.

Only other reason to use an oil finish other than classicness is that's it's easier to repair an oil finish. You can sand out dings or scratches in oil finished wood and then just oil right over it and it'll blend in. Poly you would have to strip the whole finish.

[scrub-buster]

I use tung oil on all of my selfbows now.  I stopped using tru oil because it was to expensive and didn't last long.

[ZSL]

Thanks for lending me your experience guys!

[scrub-buster]

The finish on this osage bow I just posted is the gloss tung oil.  I apply it with a cosmetic wedge.  

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=012881

[ZSL]

That is one heck of a nice osage bow, and I really like that gloss finish! I'll definitely give it a try!

[scrub-buster]

The low gloss looks pretty good to.  I just bought another can of it this week.  I left my old can in the garage over winter and it turned to gel.  I used the low gloss on this bow

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=012045

[Wolftrail]

Tung oil is cool stuff that reminds me have to buy some.  Any you guys use Shellac on bows.

[Pyro43]

Any of your oil finishes make a great finish. They require a little care to get them right, but when it comes to appearance the only thing better in my opinion is shellac, which isn't too good for outdoors.

Poly definitely is a more durable finish, and has it's places, but you won't go wrong with oil based finish. Unless you see your bow really getting abused, I'd go with the oil based finish, there are a lot of them to choose from but they are all essentially the same when it comes down to it, just different additives and varnish blends.

Tru Oil is a oil finish, just modified so it dries real fast, and I know a lot of gunsmiths use it on the stocks. If you think about the environments guns are taken into, it will give you an idea of how durable an oil finish can be.

Something else to consider, you can't really repair poly finishes, oil based finishes on the other hand aren't difficult at all to repair a small area, with poly you end up stripping the whole thing.

[ZSL]

Well I think I'm going to stick with the polyurethane on my juniper bow, but I'm working on a Russian olive bow right now that will definitely get finished with some tung oil. You make some awesome bows Scrub-buster!