New old bow, needs refinish

[Xander]

Picked up an old Browning Spartan 35# @28" 62 amo at the flea market for $20. It's structurally sound and cleaned up well enough.

The clear on the riser is chipping near the edges, arrow shelf and has exposed bare wood. What material can I either feather in at the repair site with the old finish or is easy to use (I.e. not needing spray equipment) and will hold up.

The bow will be used as a small game hunter and training bow. It has no real collectors value.

 

[jhk1]

several coats of Minwax wipe-on polyurethane.

[Xander]

Ok thanks. That will blend in reasonably, or do I have to do the entire riser?

[LittleBen]

Poly isn't a hot finish so if it's already poly on there it's probably not going to come out perfect.

If it were me I'd probably strip all the old finish and spray it with a can of lacquer if you're comfortable with spray finishes. If not strip then wipe on poly. It will come out better IMO.

If you want more durability and water resistance you can seal the wood of the riser and the limb edges with CA glue before the lacquer. It's a bit tricky so practice the superglue on scrap wood first.
 I refinished one like this and it came out great.
That's just my .02, others may have more experience and better advice.

Cheers

[Xander]

Not really looking to do a full restoration on this bow, just make it look decent and have it protected.

I am familiar with lots of wood finishes and methods, but it's for gun stocks and I don't know what finishes can handle bending and flexing of a bow.

Thanks guys.

[bigfoot1408]

spar varnish will stand up to anything you can put a bow through