Just in case this bow blows up on me the first time I use it, I figured I'd better post the pics of my first attempts at refinishing.
Had to make a little repair on this '59 and went a little too far. Ended up turning into a project. Drat! And I thought I could just lightly sand off the old tape residue, but I probably should have just used some sort of remover instead--probably would have saved me a lot of extra work. Thought of that a bit too late.
I know it's an amateur finish job, but I think it'll kill a deer if it stays together. And it was nice to rescue her from Maryland to bring her back to the land where she was born!
I cut a new grip leather from some buckskin I tanned from the first deer I shot with a flintlock rifle I built. Between that and the 'it was born down the road 50 years ago' thing, you'd think I have a decent shot at scoring this fall!
Problem now is, I can't decide if I should cover that grip wood with the leather or not...
And some befores: