richie916

I am starting to crest some arrows and when I did a search on this one of the clear coats before fletching was gasket lacquer. I looked for it this weekend and nobody has heard of it. I would imagine that I am looking in the wrong places. I guess what I'm asking is is it called something else and where would I buy it. I made my jig this weekend. I'm getting excited about getting going. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Rich

john nail

any of the supply houses like three rivers or kustom king carry gasket lac. you'll need dip tube(s), ect. it works very well and makes a hard coat. I think it takes half the work out of making custom arrows. you'll have to use Duco to glue feathers, and I use automotive touch-up paint for cresting. The standard fletch-lacq and bohning paints won't work

richie916

I was in a couple of stores this weekend checking for the gasket lacquer and the ducco is this a brand name? Also do you this your paint thanks for the help

Rich

Edited by - richie916 on 01/28/2002 04:06:30

LBR

I get mine from Lone Wolf--not likely you will find it at a regular archery store, or a hardware store. He also carries a special glue that was made to work with gasquet laquer, and it does a good job. Ducco is a brand of glue--you can find it at Wal-Mart or most any hardware store--comes in a green tube. I've used the "odds-n-ends" paint for cresting, but you will need to spray a coat of clear poly over it before you dip.

Good luck!

Chad

stealthycat

richie916 - Gasket Laquer is a type of nitocellulose based laquer. Home Depot carries a variety of it - only $16 a gallon, however I have been warned that it does take 2 for 1 coats as its not nearly as thick as the Gasket Laquer is. These types of laquers are used on penciles and guitar finishes to name but a few uses.

Personally, with help from everyone here, I spray paint my shaft, crest it, dip it twice in Minwax Polyacrylic (to preserve the crest - GL will eat it right off) then dip 3 or 4 times in GL. That gives me a hard, gloss finish for my arrows. I then fletch with DUCO cement. Its THE best way I have found so far to do it. This is for aluminum arrows and carbons by the way - woods are a different game for me.

BobCo19-65

Does anyone use colored stain (such as white)on their cedar arrows instead of lacquer?

Grey Taylor

I get my Gasket Lacquer from Sticks and Feathers Arrowsmithing. Troy has some that's a little better price than the rest of the vendors.

You'll also need a Big Dipper tube and the gasket lacquer cap and gasket (get a couple of gaskets, they do wear).

The first couple sets of arrows I made were dipped in polyurethane. It was a big pain in the butt. I hung them to dry and had finish dripping off all over the place. Additional coats took place over a period of days as the finish dried for the next coat.

When I found gl I was amazed at how well it worked. No dripping and it dried so fast I could do the next coat as soon as I'd dipped a dozen shafts. 4 - 5 coats in less than a half hour and it looked incredible. A half hour for the finish to get a little harder and I put on nocks; another half hour for the Duco to dry under the nocks and I was ready to fletch.

As has been stated, Duco is the glue to use for nocks and feathers. I get mine at Walmart since it's less than a dollar a tube there. Most other places have it at over $2 for the same tube.

I use Rit dye and analine dye to stain my shafts under the gl. I occasionally have bleeding problems on the first dip into the gl but they're nothing to worry about as they are minimal and the arrow still looks the same.

Hope that helps. Guy

stealthycat

BobCo19-65 - Powerful dye to take a brown shaft to white - and I did look into it .

No, I dyed my wood shafts yellow - and it worked quite well. The bleeding effected my GL a LOT. I dipped a few dozen arrows and now how a very pretty amber colored GL - which does not llok that great over a white cap, so I had to seal that GL up and get new stuff going for my aluminum arrows. I don't reccommend dipping dyed wood shafts through your tubes thinking it won't discolor the GL - mine certainly did. Maybe a dip into the Minwax Polyacrylic first ??

Heres an idea too. Minwax makes a stain polyurethane. Stain the shaft and coat it all at once - just one or two dips, then let dry and GL coat it a few times on top of that. Wonder if it'd work ....

BobCo19-65

I am not too experienced in this area at all. But am looking into it. You can buy now stain with enough pigment to actually stain white, green ect. I stained the cedar shingles on my house a non-transparent burgandy red (and yes it is stain) and you can not see any grain on the cedar whatsoever. I thought that it may be good to use on cedar arrows for total coverage (no additional coats). Just wondered what people thought of the idea.

wallypedal

Richie & BobCo -
I haven't found a white stain yet that I like, that covers good in one coat. Almost any of the stains listed in this thread will discolor gasket lacquer. I've had best luck using a little steel wool - 000 or finer - then wiping the shafts off with a rag before dipping. Reds bleed worse than some of the others. Rit dye works pretty good, but I used some mixed with hot water on some compressed shafts and it swelled all the compression out of first couple inches on each end - not good. Rit mixed with denatured alcohol like you get at the paint store works OK. Lately I've been using a premixed leather dye that dries fast. It's a Feibing product. There is a difference between the gasket lacquer the archery vendors sell and the Home Depot stuff, just as stated the HD is thinner.

Other people have recommeded white shoe polish like comes in a bottle with a dauber, but I've never tried it and don't know what brand.

My present routine:
Straighten shafts, and mark the nock end based on grain pattern and straightness.
Measure and mark beginning of cap with pencil.
Taper nock ends.
Stain to cap with leather dye & a throw away sponge brush. Stain again if needed.
Stain or dip the cap. I'm presently using light stain (yellow leather dye). I just got started making tapered shafts, and don't want the weight buildup of paint to effect what I'm doing with the taper.
Steel wool and wipe each stained area separately.
Gasket lacquer 4 coats. Hang by the tips.
Crest with hobby shop ink sticks and sharpies.
Cover crest with waterbased polycrylic, I just use a little brush and enough to cover the crest.
Clean up the nock end by sanding gl off the tip back down to wood, run through my taper grinder again. Cut shafts to length & point taper.
Glue everything on. I use fletch tape for the fletching.
Go shoot and break at least one out of the dozen in the first 3 days.....
Hope this helps!
Tom

Edited by - wallypedal on 01/28/2002 14:32:33