Paint crown on woodies?

[JEJ]

Thought about trying this on some woodies. I stain, then dip one coat of poly. Question is the crown/cap paint. If I don't want to spray on, and don't want to dip, has anyone used one of those foam brushes? I would just steel wool the poly at the cap area, then paint the cap on with a foam brush. How did it turn out? thanks

[Grey Taylor]

I've applied acrylic craft paint with foam brushes. It works but I've had better results with about a 3/4" art brush. The foam brushes can leave streaks.
Note that I have done this to bare wood shafts, not wood that has been coated with polyurethane first.

Guy

[Tsalagi]

I use a regular art brush and acrylic paint. When snowed in, painting shafts is fun!

[JEJ]

OK, thanks. I got the acrylic paint and will get the art brush. Now here is where I need some more advice. I want a bright yellow cap. Was going to paint white base coat, then the yellow. But my biggest question is do I paint on bare wood, or put on a coat of poly? I get more mixed signals on this than Peyton Manning calling audibles!

[reddogge]

I put one coat of poly on to keep the paint from soaking in too much.  So I stain first, one coat poly, cap paint, crest, two or three more coats of poly.

[JEJ]

Thanks reddogge. Do you think I need to scuff up the poly with steel wool so the paint will stick any better? I see where Guy just puts the paint right on the bare wood. I guess I could try it both ways (bare wood and paint on top of a coat of poly) and decide what works best with the paint and poly I have. Thanks for all the advice.

[Grey Taylor]

I can only say what works for me. I paint on the bare wood and have not tried going over poly... wait, I take that back. I had a couple sets of shafts that I'd stained and then put on one coat of gasket lacquer. For various reasons they then sat for a couple years. When I got back to them I decided to paint the crown. I scuffed the gl and then applied the acrylic paint. I put on two coats and still had somewhat poor coverage. It seemed to be caused by the way the paint flowed over the sealed surface. I went ahead and finished the arrows with two coats of acrylic on the cap and they had kind of an antique look due to the coverage issue. Definately not a solid opaque finish as you could see faint hints of the original dark stain under the crown.

Now, whatever you do, keep in mind that the pigments used in yellow paint don't cover very well, it's just a fact of what they are (earthtones are better but that's not what you want them to look like). A coat of white first is a good idea but you may still need to do two or three coats of yellow for a complete look.

Guy

[JEJ]

Guy, thanks for the advice. I think I'll go stain and brush on a white base cap coat tonight. Tomorrow a couple or three coats of yellow, and Super Bowl day three dips of poly. Making wood arrows is a trip! One day I hope mine look as good as many that are posted here on TG. Appreciate all the help guys, thanks.

[Tsalagi]

I paint on the bare wood. When the paint soaks into bare wood, it looks better in my opinion. Then I go over it with poly or Tru-Oil when I'm done. While poly works great, I gotta tell ya, an arrow done with Tru-Oil looks mighty fine. I do a coat of Tru-Oil, let it dry for a minute, then another coat. Next day, I do another couple coats the same way. Then the next day, buff with a soft cloth. Arrows done like this bring out the grain of the wood and they just look great.