Tru-Oil

Arthur P · 02-25-2006, 03:33 PM

Now that I'm done sanding on my bow and ready to refinish, I've decided I'm NOT putting polyurethane back on it. Took me forever to sand the little white streaks out of the grain of the wood, where the poly got down in there. I've never done this on a fiberglass lam bow before, but I'm going to try putting on a hand rubbed oil finish with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil.

It works great on selfbows, I know that for fact,but I really don't know how it's gonna work on fiberglass. Anybody done this before? If so, how has it held up over the glass?

dgf41 · 02-25-2006, 06:12 PM

I have refinished many old bows with tru-oil. the best way to apply is to spray with a touch up gun. cut the tru-oil with mineral oil and apply several light coats. If you try to hand rub the tru-oil it will leave streaks on the fiberglass. Clean the bow with denatured alcohol just prior to spraying not be impateint it should look good.

Alex The Hawk · 02-25-2006, 07:17 PM

Let us know how it turns out, I don't think it will work well in FB Glass.[&:]

Arthur P · 02-26-2006, 08:29 AM

I don't have a gun, so I'll have to be real careful how Irub it on.[&:]

I got the first coat onlast nightand went over it with 600 grit sandpaper this morning. It's been a long time since I used the stuff but I didn't remember it being that tough! It's more resistant to the sanding than poly was, that's for sure.

The bow looked incredible after just the first coat, much better than it did under the poly. The grain really pops! Although, I've decided I'll need to buff it with steel wool when I get done to give it a satin finish. The form I made the bow from had a lot of ripples in it which naturally got duplicated in my limbs. The gloss makesallthose ripples really show up. [&o]

Time for coat #2.

dgf41 · 02-27-2006, 08:33 PM

I am glad you did not spray I made a mistake it should have been mineralspirts instead of mineral oil. tru-oil is tough and easy to fix if you do get a scratch. Idid not have much luck with steel wool, started useing limb covers during hunting season. I have had problems with poly cracking on bows less then 60 inches. Ihave been puting tru-oil on allthe bows Ido for several years. Yours should look good.

Arthur P · 02-28-2006, 06:21 AM

After five coats, the bow looks really good.

I've decided to leave it a high gloss, since I can't do much hunting any more. When it's strung up, the ripples in the limbs aren't hardly noticeable, unless you really give it the close,criticaleyeball. Maybe I can get up a set of before and after pics tomorrow.

Arthur P · 03-01-2006, 07:57 AM

Well, I was going to post pics, but the photosdon't really do it justice.My camera just doesn't have the resolution. [&:]Trust me, the difference is night and day.

Edit... I like it so well that my Kings Pawn is getting the same treatment. Got the first coat on it last night. Don't know if you remember what it looked like before, Chad, but the bubinga isn't so plain and pink any more. There is a lot more grain to the wood than was showing through the satin finish Marc put on it.

By the way, that finish Marc uses is some tough stuff! [:-]Thought my arms were going to fall off before I got down to bare wood!