Refinish Question

[pcrc11]

I am wanting to refinish a Darton Ranger recurve. Planning on sanding existing finish with 600 grit wet/dry to remove imperfections and provide good substrate for new polyurethane. What is the best finish to put on. Something like a furniture type poly? Has anyone ever used an automotive catalized type clearcote? Thanks for you help

[MJB]

pcrc11 put a post down in Trad history & collecting.

[myshootinstinks]

Hopefully Bowdoc or Rich will chime in here shortly. I've refinished a good number of bows and have recently been using Wipe-on Poly by Minwax. If the riser is made of an oily exotic like cocobolo you'll need to seal it with a catylist type product or sometimes water=based poly will do the job. I have found it necessaary to remove ALL the old finish to get a nice looking job.  I start w/ 400 black oxide and progress to 1000 as I get down to the glass. It's a lot of work but when you get done the bow will look better than new.

[Orion]

I've used spray on Helmsman satin Spar Urathane, available at most hardward stores.  May not be historically correct, but works very well.  Durable, hard finish.  Hand rubbing Birchwood Casey gun stock finish also works very well, but results in a shinier finish.

[Holm-Made]

If I was going to sand the finish off a bow I wouldn't start with a finer grit than 220.  Too much work.  It won't hurt the bow if you sand a little bit into the glass.  Worse cause senario you might lose a pound of draw.  You'd have to way over do it to throw the tiller off.  

Keep in mind bowyers sand the glass to tiller the bow and rough up the smooth surface for the finish to adhere to.  If it was me I'd start out sanding the riser with 100 grit and work up to 220.  I'd start out sanding the limbs with 150 and work up to 220.  You don't want the glass too smooth.  220 is about right for the finish to adhere to.  The finish will fill the micro grooves of the 220 and you will never see them.  
Chad

[Bjorn]

Yeah-220 for sure as Chad says. I just use 220 on the wood too; but Chad as much more experience -go with his advice.
As for a coating I use Tru-Oil applied by paper towel, 6-8 coats.
There is nothing wrong withMinwax poly, or Helmsman sprays.

[Holm-Made]

I used Helmsman Spar Urethane on the first 15 bows I built years ago.  Easy to apply and good durability. It has a UV protectant in it so woods like osage take much longer to darken.  Downside is it yellows with age.  Chad

[d. ward]

600 grit will take 6 times as long to remove the original finish and wet dry should never be used (wet anyhow) on a bow your striping.The water or any moisture around the bare wood and glue lines is a no no...I start with 100 grit and end with 100 grit on wood and fiberglass both..As Chad mentioned getting the glass to smooth is not good eather...All the finishes mentioned work great.As for the catalized clear,problem being the shelf life is short on the catalist and it's the most expensive part of the 3 products used...Unless your gonna do about 10 bows at a time I do not recomend using the catalized products...to expensive...keep us posted on how it's going....maybe a pic or two....bowdoc

[DCM]

Wow!  Start and finish with 100 grit is so counter-intuitive.  Were it not for the reputation of the folks typing, and the pics at Holme-Mades's site, I'd never have believed what I just read.

How do you feel about using mineral spirits for wet sanding?  I use it after finish and between coats (of wipe on poly) sometimes.  But I'm usually using a much finer grit or 0000 steel wool, particularly after the final coat to clean up blems and to matte the high gloss (which I've read was "harder" than semi-gloss).